An Oregon resident has taken to Reddit to inquire about the installation of a smart irrigation system in their community.
"Our HOA is starting to look at mitigating our water usage. We're going to be talking to landscaping vendors soon, but would like to see if anyone has any tips/lessons/thoughts," their post in r/HOA detailed. "For individual homes there are plenty of solutions (I use a b-hyve myself). For HOA-wide installs the picking seems to be pretty slim … any insight would be appreciated."
For context, HOA stands for homeowners association, the entity that makes and enforces rules for a community, subdivision, or condominium. HOA members are residents of the community. Smart irrigation systems tailor water use to specific landscape needs, and a B-hyve is a type of this technology. This particular HOA seems to be looking to install a smart irrigation system that fits their standards and works for the whole community.
According to HydroPoint, outdoor water use averages about nine billion gallons of water per day in the United States, and 50% of this water goes to waste due to overwatering. Smart irrigation systems can mitigate that waste.
Many HOAs across the United States have been caught preventing homeowners respectively from adopting money-saving and eco-friendly lifestyle changes, including but not limited to gardening and hanging clotheslines to dry their laundry.
Fortunately, for the 74 million people in the U.S. who live in areas governed by an HOA, there are ways to operate within restrictions or change established rules or standard practices. These efforts can make tangible progress for both your home and your community.
As for this HOA, at least one member seems to be doing their homework for the well-being of their constituents. Many Redditors took to the comments section to offer their own advice.
"Native grasses, native pollinators, native cactus, native trees. Your water bills will drop to zero," an HOA board member commented. "To directly answer your question, it needs to be an HOA policy, it needs to be a 5-year plan, it needs to be rolled out by a professional, and it needs to have as few options as possible."
"The past 2 years I've been using Rachio sprinkler control with the Tempest weather station (for micro climate control). Its web based and zones can be adjusted for the seasons," another Redditor suggested. "Getting a common WiFi would be a problem but you need to think outside the box with water being expensive."
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