Residents in drought areas are unable to water their lawn
effectively to prevent wildfires because there are water rations.
The who? People
living in drought areas
The what? Unable to
water their lawn for wildfire prevention
The why? Cities cannot
route enough water to all areas due to water shortages
Interview 1
This individual lives in California and almost lost his
property in last year’s wildfires. His
yard caught fire but firefighters were able to save his home from the
flames. Prior to the fire, he wanted to
water the grass and house to prevent embers from catching but the city would
not allow him due to water rations. He
believes all people living in the city should have equal, unrestricted access
to water. He says only areas with anticipated
drought are affected by this need. He
blames the city for not pumping enough water from surrounding reservoirs.
Interview 2
This person is a student who lives in an apartment in
Florida. Due to the many swamps, massive
wildfires are rare in Florida. She
claims this need does not affect her because the apartment has insurance. She has no knowledge on the apartment
company’s utility use and therefore is not concerned with drought situations.
Interview 3
This individual is a battalion chief for fire rescue. I explained the situation to him, and he
realizes there is both a need and opportunity.
He proposed a new solution which is efficient and could be
implemented. He suggested against
routing unlimited water to all drought areas.
Instead, construction water trucks should drive down roads watering dry
lawns. This will achieve the same goal
of hydrating grass to prevent the spread of wildfires. He believes this opportunity affects anyone
who owns property in a drought area.
Interview 4
This couple lives in rural Florida and lost their home to a
wildfire a couple of years ago. When
asked about the need, they forcefully said that is a real problem. This indicates there is still a strong
opportunity. They claim that before the
fire, water supply was cut off because the water was being reserved for fire
stations. They had no other option but
to watch the fire burn through dry grass.
The couple believes everyone who own property has this need. One boundary of this need is their location,
which is difficult to pump water.
Interview 5
This individual is an engineer for the public works. He is aware of the drought situation and the
resulting water rations. This person
understands the mechanics of the water transport systems underneath cities. He claims it is not possible to have enough
water flow to supply all houses at one time with their demand for water to
hydrate the grass. The physics of
pressure make it impossible to satisfy the high demand during a drought. In addition, he realizes there is a problem,
but the solution is not as simple as just routing more water to houses. He agrees there is a major opportunity for
this need.
Summary
After interviewing five people, I reinforced previous
hypotheses about this opportunity but also learned new components of the
need. I know there is a need to have
more water during times of drought to prevent the spread of wildfires. However, this need only applies to household
owners. Apartment and condo residents
don’t particularly care about this need because they don’t directly work with
the problem. Most interviewed people
agreed there is an opportunity because no one has a definite solution.
