AWWA Water Science Author Spotlight: Laura A. Warner

Abstract

Having recently published an article in AWWA Water Science, Laura Warner answered questions from the publication's editor-in-chief, Kenneth L. Mercer, about the research.

Insights From Residents Under Year-Round Irrigation Restrictions to Improve Water Conservation Impacts

Laura A. Warner, Bernardo Cardenas, Michael D. Dukes, Nicholas Taylor, Deirdre Irwin, James Harmon, Masoud Yazdanpanah, and John M. Diaz

Laura Warner's research work examines the human aspects of water conservation.

I describe myself as a horticulturist turned social scientist. I have BS and MS degrees in environmental horticulture from the University of Florida. I worked for many years in horticultural education, with a focus on arboriculture and landscape water conservation. I became fascinated with how people respond to education and change their behaviors (or not), and I shifted into the social sciences with an EdD in agricultural education, leadership, and communication from Texas A&M University (College Station) and Texas Tech University (Lubbock).

You can have the most amazing technical solution to complex issues such as water scarcity; but if people are not willing to use it, it is worthless. My research uncovers the factors that lead to adoption or rejection of these types of solutions so people's needs can be met and adoption of those solutions maximized.

This particular study was a response to concerns expressed by a number of my stakeholders regarding poor compliance with irrigation restrictions. I wanted to look closely to understand how people felt and why many chose not to comply with these policies. The project led to a multiyear inquiry regarding compliance with irrigation restrictions, which is ongoing today.

I have been directing large research panels for more than a decade, and most of the methods are part of my research team's standard approach. However, this was the first time we filtered down to target only those people who were subject to a particular policy.

I was—and still am—shocked that half of the folks who are subject to these policies are unaware of them!

Laura listens to research participants describe their perceptions of water-saving technologies for a journey-mapping session.

I love hiking and being in the mountains. I spend much of my free time working on my growing food forest. I have more than 50 varieties of fruit trees!

I love how passionate people are about water and how generous the experts are in sharing their knowledge to arrive at collaborative solutions.

To learn more about Laura's research, visit the article, available online at https://doi.org/10.1002/aws2.1348.