IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i21p9356-d1508371.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Remote Sensing of Residential Landscape Irrigation in Weber County, Utah: Implications for Water Conservation, Image Analysis, and Drone Applications

Author

Listed:
  • Annelise M. Turman

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Virginia, Thornton Hall, 351 McCormick Rd, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA
    Department of Civil and Construction Engineering, Brigham Young University, EB 430, Provo, UT 84602, USA)

  • Robert B. Sowby

    (Department of Civil and Construction Engineering, Brigham Young University, EB 430, Provo, UT 84602, USA)

  • Gustavious P. Williams

    (Department of Civil and Construction Engineering, Brigham Young University, EB 430, Provo, UT 84602, USA)

  • Neil C. Hansen

    (Department of Plant and Wildlife Sciences, Brigham Young University, LSB 4105, Provo, UT 84604, USA)

Abstract

Analyzing irrigation patterns to promote efficient water use in urban areas is challenging. Analysis of irrigation by remote sensing (AIRS) combines multispectral aerial imagery, evapotranspiration data, and ground-truth measurements to overcome these challenges. We demonstrate AIRS on eight neighborhoods in Weber County, Utah, using 0.6 m National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) and 0.07 m drone imagery, reference evapotranspiration (ET), and water use records. We calculate the difference between the actual and hypothetical water required for each parcel and compare water use over three time periods (2018, 2021, and 2023). We find that the quantity of overwatering, as well as the number of customers overwatering, is decreasing over time. AIRS provides repeatable estimates of irrigated area and irrigation demand that allow water utilities to track water user habits and landscape changes over time and, when controlling for other variables, see if water conservation efforts are effective. In terms of image analysis, we find that (1) both NAIP and drone imagery are sufficient to measure irrigated area in urban settings, (2) the selection of a threshold value for the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) becomes less critical for higher-resolution imagery, and (3) irrigated area measurement can be enhanced by combining NDVI with other tools such as building footprint extraction, object classification, and deep learning.

Suggested Citation

  • Annelise M. Turman & Robert B. Sowby & Gustavious P. Williams & Neil C. Hansen, 2024. "Remote Sensing of Residential Landscape Irrigation in Weber County, Utah: Implications for Water Conservation, Image Analysis, and Drone Applications," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-21, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:21:p:9356-:d:1508371
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/21/9356/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/21/9356/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Annelise M. Capener & Robert B. Sowby & Gustavious P. Williams, 2023. "Pathways to Enhancing Analysis of Irrigation by Remote Sensing (AIRS) in Urban Settings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-12, August.
    2. Kayson M. Shurtz & Emily Dicataldo & Robert B. Sowby & Gustavious P. Williams, 2022. "Insights into Efficient Irrigation of Urban Landscapes: Analysis Using Remote Sensing, Parcel Data, Water Use, and Tiered Rates," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-15, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sowby, Robert B. & South, Andrew J., 2023. "Innovative water rates as a policy tool for drought response: Two case studies from Utah, USA," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    2. Annelise M. Capener & Robert B. Sowby & Gustavious P. Williams, 2023. "Pathways to Enhancing Analysis of Irrigation by Remote Sensing (AIRS) in Urban Settings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-12, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:21:p:9356-:d:1508371. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.