Selling End Users on Water Efficient Improvements.

摘要

In an effort to drive uptake of water conserving products, an irrigation professional must "sell" their client on the value of water conservation. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of an alternative method to data collection compared to catch can data collection and analysis. While irrigation professionals typically want to help their clients reduce water use, the only methodology they are trained on is the use of catch cans and collection of data such as, precipitation ratesand Distribution Uniformity (DU) - (Distribution Uniformity, Coefficient of Uniformity and Scheduling coefficient). The objective of this study is to (evaluate the use of) use an alternate method of irrigation analysis to produce useful information thatcan be used to drive client uptake of water saving products.This study was carried out over 5 irrigation seasons (2010-2014) and consisted of evaluating multiple irrigation systems using an alternative irrigation assessment technique. Trained irrigation professionals used this alternative method to quantify wateruse, identify water use, annual water cost and water savings potential. This information was then used to sell end-users on the advantages to investment in irrigation system performance improvements. The intent was to achieve and sustain significant outdoor water use reductions.Results indicate that it is Return on Investment (ROI) and total water use savings volumes that drive consumer behaviour when it comes to investment in irrigation system improvements. While DU is one way to measure zone performance, DU is not something that the end user cares about (or understands). These findings indicate that irrigation professionals can provide end users with useful information that can be collected in (approximately) half the time of a traditional (catch can) irrigation assessment.In five years of practical, hands-on, real-world experience, the assessment findings led directly to the improvement of irrigation systems resulting in the conservation of millions of litres of potable water and hundreds of thousands of dollars in watercost savings. If more assessments can be performed in significantly less time but achieve the same results, this would indicate a potentially significant revenue opportunity for irrigation professionals. If significantly greater economies of scale can beachieved with this new approach to irrigation assessments while assisting the irrigation professional in demonstrating a solid business case for irrigation water conservation, then a very promising business opportunity exists for irrigation professionals in marketing irrigation water conservation assessments and retro-fits.