Showering is one of the most water-intensive behaviours in urban households, accounting for 20–30% of water use. Real-time feedback from smart devices has been proven to significantly reduce water consumption in showers. Still, it is not known whether these devices have spillover effects on other water use behaviours. For the first time, we provide empirical evidence for a significant and negative within-domain spillover effect from the use of such devices, showing an increase in water use in other activities by 2.5% per day per household. Up to one-third of conservation effects are eroded by such spillovers, resulting in a two steps forward, one step back situation. Overall, however, net water use is still reduced by 4.7% in the 385 households that were observed. This study points out an important behavioural limit on the use of such smart shower devices and suggests that such use be accompanied by informational or other campaigns to reduce the large negative spillovers.

Water conservation is of particular importance for arid regions, including many Muslim-majority countries. With the added pressures of human population growth and expansion and global climate change, water conservation efforts are imperative to extending the life of current water supplies as well as to sourcing water treatment methods that are religiously congruent. We review Qur’anic verses that address water usage and conservation. We searched the English translations of the King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Qur’an and the King Saud University Electronic Moshaf Project for Qur’anic scripture related to water and water conservation. A total of 25 verses were found that related to creation, water usage for agriculture and food provision/production and as a common resource for humanity. Qur’anic scripture encourages gratitude for water and wise stewardship of this resource. Specific prohibitions against the reuse of water (e.g., treated water) were not found, and recent Islamic literature supports the use of cleansed greywater. Treated greywater may thus be an additional source for agricultural needs, thus reducing the stress placed on already limited water supplies. Water conservation falls within Qur’anic scripture.

The scarce availability of water in highly populated cities is about to become a social problem. While the water service companies work on improving the distribution network in order to reduce losses, it is evident that one of the main problems is due to an excess of use of this resource by users. This consumption is relatively controlled when excessive consumption is clearly associated, in the consumer mind, with high costs. However, when users are in public places they tend to consume water because of a loss of correlation with costs. In this paper, we describe the design of a device to be installed in public environments, which aims to reduce the consumption of water. The device measures in real time the flow of water and sends the user visual and sound information trying to create a link between consumption and costs. The device has been installed in a university campus bathroom and has been tested. Test results show a reduction in water consumption, especially in the interactive prototype approach compared to the conventional treatment. Further modifications for future development of the interactive device is also discussed.

This research aimed to illicit nonfarming absentee landowners’ and producers’ preferences for the benefits and characteristics derived from conservation practices during adoption decisions using maximum difference scaling, also called the best-worst method. Both groups are found to rank and value the attributes and reasons for adoption of conservation practices differently at the 95% significance level. This difference between the two groups reinforced the importance of land tenure in decision making. This indicated the need for new extension educational efforts, research efforts, and economic incentives to reduce negative externalities that could be ameliorated from adoption of soil and water conservation practices.

Whether season-long weed control can be achieved in a furrow-irrigated rice system with similar herbicide inputs to that of a flooded system is not known. Field experiments were conducted in 2007 and 2008 at Pine Tree, AR to evaluate different herbicide programs on the weed control efficacy and rice grain yield in furrow-irrigated and flooded rice production systems. Six herbicide programs were evaluated with and without additional late-season “as-needed” herbicide treatments. Minor injury to rice was noted for quinclorac plus propanil. However, the injury was transient and the plants fully recovered. Overall weed control was greater in the flooded system compared with the furrow-irrigated system (up to 20% greater), because flooding effectively prevented the emergence of most terrestrial weeds. In addition, rice grain yields were 13 to 14% greater in flooded compared with furrow-irrigated plots. Irrespective of the irrigation system, herbicide programs that contained a PRE-applied herbicide provided greater weed control and resulted in greater yield compared with those that did not contain PRE-applied herbicide, indicative of the importance of early-season weed control in achieving higher grain yields. On the basis of weed control, yield, and weed treatment cost, the herbicide program with clomazone PRE followed by propanil at four- to five-leaf rice was more efficient than other programs evaluated in both irrigation systems. However, furrow-irrigated plots required as-needed herbicide applications, which were applied after the four- to five-leaf rice stage when two or more plots within a program exhibited ≤ 80% control for any of the weed species. This suggests that furrow-irrigated rice production demands additional weed management efforts and thereby increases production costs. There is also a possibility for substantial yield reduction in the furrow-irrigated system compared with the flooded system. Nevertheless, furrow-irrigated rice production can still be a viable option under water-limiting situations and under certain topographic conditions.

Research on weed management in furrow-irrigated rice is needed as water availability becomes more limited in rice production regions of Arkansas. Research was conducted at Keiser and Pine Tree, AR, with the objectives being to determine (1) whether the addition of clomazone to imazethapyr would improve PRE weed control in furrow-irrigated, imidazolinone-tolerant rice, and (2) whether increasing the imazethapyr rates would improve weed control without injuring rice. Imazethapyr was applied at 70, 87.5, and 105 g ai/ha PRE with and without clomazone followed by imazethapyr POST at the same rate as used PRE. No rice injury was observed during the growing season at either site. Clomazone plus imazethapyr applied PRE did not improve early season control of Palmer amaranth, pitted morningglory, prickly sida, barnyardgrass, or broadleaf signalgrass over imazethapyr alone. Increasing the PRE imazethapyr rate to 105 g/ha did not improve Palmer amaranth or pitted morningglory control. Imazethapyr applied PRE on a clay soil generally provided lower weed control than on the silt loam soil. Increasing the imazethapyr rate did not improve rice yields.

Research was conducted in 2007 and 2008 to evaluate weed-control options in an imazethapyr-resistant rice production system. Raised beds were formed, and imidazolinone-resistant hybrid rice ‘CL 730’ was drill-seeded on beds. Five herbicide programs applied up to the four- to six-leaf stage of rice were evaluated with and without additional “as-needed” herbicide at later stages. All the herbicide combinations and as-needed herbicides tested in this research were labeled for rice, and only minor transient injury (< 5%) was initially observed. Weeds emerged throughout the growing season, and as-needed herbicides were applied after the four- to six-leaf stage of rice to control these late-emerging weeds and weeds not effectively controlled with earlier applications, primarily Palmer amaranth. Most of the Palmer amaranth at this site was insensitive to imazethapyr (possibly acetolactate synthase resistant). Therefore, application of as-needed herbicides with different modes of action, such as 2,4-D, were used to improve Palmer amaranth control. Rice yields were often numerically higher in plots that received additional herbicide after the six-leaf stage of rice, but yields were not significantly improved.

This study examines water system characteristics, managers' attitudes and perceptions toward water conservation, and future planning strategies that influence the adoption of water conservation programs for urban and rural communities. We surveyed water system managers in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Florida; and we parameterized predictive adoption models for price-based (PC) and nonprice-based (NPC) conservation programs. Notably, results suggest that information about the price elasticity of water demand for a community does encourage PC and NPC adoption; and we found no evidence that PC and NPC adoption is jointly considered by water systems.

Natural causes (such as droughts), non-natural causes (such as competinguses), and government policies limit the supply of water for agriculture ingeneral and irrigating crops in particular. Under such reduced water supplyscenarios, existing physical models reduce irrigation proportionally amongcrops in the farmer's portfolio, disregarding temporal changes in economicand/or institutional conditions. Hence, changes in crop mix resulting fromexpectations about risks and returns are ignored. A method is developed thatconsiders those changes and accounts for economic substitution and expansioneffects. Forecasting studies based on this method with surface water inGeorgia and Alabama demonstrate the relative strength of econometricmodeling vis-à-vis physical methods. Results from a study using this methodfor ground water in Mississippi verify the robustness of those findings.Results from policy-induced simulation scenarios indicate water savings of12% to 27% using the innovative method developed. Although better irrigationwater demand forecasting in crop production was the key objective of thispilot project, conservation of a valuable natural resource (water) hasturned out to be a key consequence.

Turkey is experiencing pressure to increase crop production per unit area to achieve self-reliance in food supply. The main production concern before 1970 was to increase crop yields to meet the national consumption of an ever-increasing population. During this time the country's capability to produce wheat was insufficient to meet the national demand. After the initiation of the National Wheat Research and Extension Project in 1969 the objectives of wheat production methods were changed to achieve not only higher but more economical yields per unit area. As a result the total area sown to wheat increased by only 9% between 1969 and 1990, whereas yields and total production increased 75 and 90%, respectively. This was due to developing or importing high-yielding varieties adapted to dry areas, increasing use of fertilizers and plant protection chemicals, and timely use of proper tillage made possible with modem equipment. Transferring research results to farmers and exchanging information with international scientists led Turkish scientists to establish the new goal of developing ecologically sound farming systems that could achieve higher, more economical yields per unit area. The key to this approach is to maintain or increase soil organic matter.

Agriculture in Israel is practiced throughout the country from the Arava Valley in the South, where average annual rainfall is less than 40 mm, to the Upper Galilee in the North, where annual rainfall exceeds 700 mm. Less than half the cultivated area used for field crops is irrigated. Much of the output is exponed, primarily to Europe, but some to the United States and Japan. In nonirrigated dry-farming areas, the main crops grown are wheat for grain and silage and several secondary crops, including sunflower, watermelons and hay legumes. Animal production is predominantly intensive dairying (mainly cows, but also sheep and goats), poultry production, and aquaculture, all of which use large quantities of imported feed grains. Beef production is largely from dairy bullocks, but includes an important rangeland beef sector. Problems that face Israeli agriculture in general and dryland agriculture in particular are primarily economic, including low prices for many traditional dryland crops, a small local market, and increasing input costs. The changing socioeconomic scene, reflected by decreasing employment in agriculture, has added to the problems of proper land use. There is an urgent need for more appropriate production systems and associated innovative research and development. This includes management for higher output/input ratios, conservation and enhancement of genetic resources, crop diversification, integration of crop and livestock production, and alternative land use options such as agroforestry, recreation, ecological refuges, and landscape enhancement. These challenges are common to most countries in the Middle East, and offer opportunities for regional and international collaboration to improve the sustainability of agriculture in the region.