Water-saving gadget does Cyber-Rain dance

CORRECTION: A previous version of this post said that, for homeowners who have more than an acre, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California offers a $630 rebate for each acre. The $630 rebate is for each water-saving device.

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It's another hot summer, and California is officially in a drought, according to the Governator. A Los Angeles company has come out with a water-saving solution.

The doodad, called Cyber-Rain XCI, attaches to sprinkler systems and wirelessly looks up online weather forecasts to determine how much to water the lawn. Hot, humid days will see Cyber-Rain doling out more water. Cool, cloudy days would result in less watering. And, of course, the gadget lays off the drink entirely on rainy days. Since it's a connected device, you can control the schedule and monitor the water use on a PC.

About 70% of household water consumption comes from outdoor watering, according to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. That includes water used in pools, power-hosing driveways and washing cars, as well as to keep the garden green.

One study by the Irvine Ranch Water District found that weather-based irrigation gadgets saved households more than 40 gallons of water a day, skimming roughly 10% off their total water use, according to Lynn Lipinski, spokeswoman for the MWD.

Cyber-Rain is made by a company of the same name founded by Los Angeles entrepreneur Reza Pourzia and funded by Funk Ventures in Santa Monica and Momentum Venture Management in Pasadena. It sells the gadget for about $350 on its website, as well as at Smart Home.

Price too much to swallow? Water districts around the country offer rebates on qualifying products. The MWD, which covers most of Los Angeles, gives an $80 rebate to homeowners who buy Cyber-Rain or one of a dozen other sprinkler controllers that qualify, if the landscape being watered is less than an acre. For those who have more than an acre, the district rebates $630 for each device. The district has put up a website where consumers can look up rebate information, apply for rebates and learn how to conserve water.

We haven't played with the device yet. Once we have, we'll post a follow-up on how things went and, if we're really good, how much green we were able to save while still keeping our garden green.

-- Alex Pham

Photo courtesy of Cyber-Rain

Comments

[John Goldstein]

Another very cool Funk Ventures company. I've been tracking their progress for a while and these guys can always come up with another good thing. I'll buy a unit as soon as the long weekend is over. Thanks Alex for writing about things that matter!

[Jason Porter]

It is amazing to me how unaware people are of the global fresh water shortage and will not even think twice about wasting thousands of gallons of water unnecessarily. Caltech recently did a conference on how the shortage of fresh water can be the next major crisis. Maybe we need an Al Gore to highlight this to the general public. In the interim, we should be grateful to innovative companies like these that are trying to provide a solution to a major problem that people are not aware of. Alex, I wish you would consider a blog on the fresh water supply crisis. BBC did a great coverage on this several years ago. The supply of fresh water has remained the same for the last 100 years while the world population continues to grow.

[Brooke]

I am amazed by southern Californians continuing to insist that their yard look like a tropical rainforest. We live in a desert area -- not the Colorado mountains. Instead of spending money on gadgets designed to enable a landscape not native to this area, Californians should be spending their money to replant their land to embrace native plants. These plants would consume far less water than non-native plants.

[GetGreen]

Great to see continued innovation in the water saving arena. People are going to continue to water their precious gardens and any device that can help to make this practice more efficient.