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Viewing My Water Budget

To view your performance property’s individualized water budget, simply go to your toolbar in the upper part of the page. Click on WATER BUDGET and it will allow you to view the breakdown of your property’s water budget. Each crop (cool season turf, annuals, natives etc.) will be itemized monthly and assigned a number:

  • ETo (inches) (as determined by the closest compatible CIMIS station(s) or a blend of up to three nearby CIMIS stations.)
  • RAINFALL (inches) (Effective rainfall is described as 30 percent of the precipitation in any month having more than one inch (1") of total precipitation. Effective rainfall is capped at 100 percent of reference evapotranspiration (ETo) for the month.)
  • CROP K (Crop coefficient or percentage assigned to each crop for effective irrigation)
  • EFFECTIVE DU* (Fixed parameter of distribution uniformity assigned to each irrigation system for effective distribution uniformity)
    * Some Distribution Uniformity (DU) requirements are based upon the field study of water audits performed on over 7,800 sites by Gary Kah, Chris Willig, and Brent Mecham. DU measures how evenly water is applied across a landscape during irrigation.
  • REQUIRED WATER (inches) (Required amount of water for each crop by multiplying Eto x Crop K x Effective DU)
  • AREA (sq ft) (Square footage you entered for the crop’s landscaped area)
  • WATER (HCF) (Required water expressed in hundred cubic feet)

ETo x Crop Coefficient / Irrigation System Coefficient = Required H20 (in inches) - Effective Rainfall = Adjusted H20.

The budget is monthly, and the total budget is the sum of 12 months.

The total of each crop’s required ETo and the individual property’s budgeted + or – of 100% will be totaled in the column marked TOTAL LANDSCAPE WATER BUDGET.

Further breakdown of this individualized budget will be featured in the WATER INFORMATION and SITE CROP AND IRRIGATION SYSTEM INFORMATION.

For more information on the website’s landscape water budget development, go to: http://www.clca.us/water-pro/water-budgeting.html