48 replies to this topic

[mrdavex]

Just received a letter in the mail from the City about a new pilot program called Dopcountr that allows you to monitor your water usage in real time, instead of having to wait for your water bill showng it 2 months later.  You sign up at www.dropcountr.com or download the Apple or Android app and enter in your account number on your utility bill. 

Of course since I'm an engineer and love numbers and monitoring stuff, I signed up right away.  It's pretty neat as you can see your water usage each day, and even by the hour.  It also calculates a water usage goal for your house and shows your actual vs target usage.  Even though my water savings is progressing better than my goal, I was shocked to see how much water my sprinklers use, and I was using over 3000 gallons a week during the summer when the sprinklers and drip were on. 

Looks like they're limiting the pilot participation to  the first 5000 who sign up online or download the app, so if you're interested in seeing your daily water usage, sign up now.

[chris v]

Thanks for the tip. This is really cool and I'm happy to see that I am well below average for my household water usage.

[cw68]

LOVE this! Our household is 78% under the goal for the year for similar households. It's great to be able to show the kids that our efforts matter and are working.

[ducky]

So you have to have a smartphone to sign up?

[jpow5]

What a great app! Although I'm a little concerned that some people will stop conserving once they see how far under their goal they are. I'm not sure how they calculated our goal, but it seems crazy high. We were still about 20% under for Jul/Aug and that's with a pool and sprinklers going! Our monthly usage is almost 33% lower than similar homes, but our goal is almost 4x what similar homes use. That doesn't really make sense to me. I saw that I can reset our goal, but I was really hoping that the app would do a better job calculating it for me. 

[mrdavex]

So you have to have a smartphone to sign up?

 No, you can use your PC and sign up and view your usage on the website,  www.dropcountr.com 

What a great app! Although I'm a little concerned that some people will stop conserving once they see how far under their goal they are. I'm not sure how they calculated our goal, but it seems crazy high. We were still about 20% under for Jul/Aug and that's with a pool and sprinklers going! Our monthly usage is almost 33% lower than similar homes, but our goal is almost 4x what similar homes use. That doesn't really make sense to me. I saw that I can reset our goal, but I was really hoping that the app would do a better job calculating it for me. 

 

Yeah, I don't think it asks enough questions to accurately calculate your target water usage.  For instance, it does not ask your lot size, which makes all the difference in how much irrigation water you use, or how big your pool is.

[chris v]

 No, you can use your PC and sign up and view your usage on the website,  www.dropcountr.com 


 
Yeah, I don't think it asks enough questions to accurately calculate your target water usage.  For instance, it does not ask your lot size, which makes all the difference in how much irrigation water you use, or how big your pool is.

My app knew that my yard was 10000 sq ft. based on my address.

[mrdavex]

My app knew that my yard was 10000 sq ft. based on my address.

Interesting, I guess Dropcountr calculates your yard size (lot size minus home square footage) based on public data available from the County Assessor.  But it still would not be able to distinguish on how much of your yard is hardscape vs grass vs xeriscape, so I wonder if it assumes that all of your yard can be watered?  Of course, there are some folks in town who don't tune their sprinklers and irrigate their concrete

[AMETHYST PRODUCTIVITY]

It definitely seems to be accurate. The days when I know I drained and filled the hot tub show a bump of about 400 gallons and you can also tell the two watering days (Sun/Wed) as they are higher. Other than that, we are dramatically below their estimate for us. It shows 710 gallons per day for our household as their budget and we average more like 150. 

[folsom500]

A couple of observations on the desk top app-  First- not sure it is the same at the smart phone app- as do not have one so can't compare.

 

> It appears that it is listing usage only when the meter advances 1 CCF ( 748 gal) as with the current rain I am using hardly any water since I am not irrigating the yard.    So it lists 7( 1CCF) every so often, with most days listed at Zero usage -( I only used 5 CCF in the last billing cycle which will show up on my next bill(usage as of 11/11-12/10).

 

>you will not actually see daily usage nor real time as it seem to lag a couple of days  ( just today got my Wednesday click over to another CCF)

 

> not sure it figures in lot size as my listed goal is 470 gal per day when that is impossible with 13000 sq ft landscaped lot in the summer time.

 

If you are seeing more info on your phone app - let me know

 

I have been tracking my outside meter for the last 3 years on a weekly basis so I can predict and manage my billings. .. I also keep track of ALL of my outside water usage by Zone ( I have 17) on a chart daily.

 

I have reduced usage by over 50% overall from 2012.  Less from 2013 but over 20% overall if the rain holds up.

 

I guess I only use 4 -5 CCF per month when I do not have to water outside so my outside watering in the summer and a warm fall accounts for over 80% of my water usage.

 

 

 

Not sure how this app will help me but it might.  For most others that have not been opening up the meter box weekly- it will likely be a good monitor if used on a regular basis.

[Robert Gary]

It definitely seems to be accurate. The days when I know I drained and filled the hot tub show a bump of about 400 gallons and you can also tell the two watering days (Sun/Wed) as they are higher. Other than that, we are dramatically below their estimate for us. It shows 710 gallons per day for our household as their budget and we average more like 150. 

What do you water in the middle of winter?

[AMETHYST PRODUCTIVITY]

I was referring to historical data showing on there. Turned our sprinklers off months ago.

[Howdy]

What do you water in the middle of winter?

A lot of people have turned back on the sprinklers since there has not been rain in about 3 weeks.

[mrdavex]

A lot of people have turned back on the sprinklers since there has not been rain in about 3 weeks.

 

My sprinklers have been off since November and my lawn is perfectly green.  The cold weather keeps your lawn dormant, and during the winter I don't really care about having a green lawn.  

[Howdy]

 

My sprinklers have been off since November and my lawn is perfectly green.  The cold weather keeps your lawn dormant, and during the winter I don't really care about having a green lawn.  

Well that are lots of people watering as you can see at night or in the mornings while driving around the neighborhoods. Which is fine because we are in still a stage 3 restriction which means water 2 days a week.