California is in one of the worst droughts ever recorded in the last 1200 years. With California being a major agricultural producer, especially in almonds, wine, and dairy products, a drought doesn't just affect our irrigation and water supply, it will attack food prices, jobs, and state ecosystems depending on thriving rivers and lakes. Even though residential usage totals to about 11% of the state's water economy, it doesn't mean that attempts at reducing individual water supply are futile. The more people become aware, the more influence we have on corporations/large companies/large entities to reduces theirs as well.
Glenda's class DES157 (Interactive Media II) teamed up with cEnergi, an "interdisciplinary team that proposes to alter the way energy is experienced by consumers in order to reduce energy use and emissions". We are challenged to create an interface to communicate water shortages, water usage, and sustainability either on a local level or on a global scale. For this project, we decided to create a website that will track water usage at a local and personal level, and bring the community together in efforts to lower our water consumption.
Designers: Jennifer Wu & Serena Marini
Prototype found here
The website launches with a splash page to introduce the idea of the WaterMap and how it will bring the data to the community.
Upon entering, the user will be given an interactive map on the right and a statistical chart on the left. The initial statistics give insight to the UCDavis Drought Response Action Plan that culminated into the year 2015. It shows progression and improvement in campus water consumption and encourages students to keep this trend going. Right below the graph is an up to date calculation of how many gallons were used in the past 24 hours.
Markers found on the map itself can be clicked for specific information from that location. The location highlighted above is Tercero, one of three major dorms found on campus. When hovered over, the marker pops up some information about the location in case the user is unfamiliar with UCDavis. The statistics also change on the left to show a weekly flow of water use from that area as well as the total use from that area in real time. All statistics and numbers are accurate and up-to-date from the information provided by cEngergi.
