2003-04 Deliverables
Task 5 Research
Principal Investigator(s): Richard H. White
- Establish residential landscape response units within the Rio Grande Valley. Response units will be classified based on lot size, plant species, plant density, type of irrigation, and overall landscape design during May 2003 through June 2003. The response units have been identified through cooperation with the Hidalgo County Master Gardeners and Extension personnel.
- Create a database which categorizes landscape response units into type such as "Mesic", "Xeric", or "Oasis" during May 2003 through July 2003.
- Intensively instrument one or more response units to determine actual evapotranspiration (ET) of integrated landscapes using a water balance method for the entire landscape during July 2002 in El Paso, Texas through cooperation with Dr. Ken Marcum and the El Paso Center.
- Determine and report actual water use for various landscape design types (response units) during August 2003 through April 2004.
- Determine the relationship between actual ET and landscape irrigation coefficients for one or more integrated landscapes during August 2003 through April 2004 including the existing site in Weslaco and the site in El Paso to be instrumented during July 2003.
- Utilize the information obtained from landscape response units to refine and publish a model landscape water conservation guide - May 2004. Considerable progress has been made to date on development of this guide.