How Tech Could Save California Lawns

The plush, green lawns that dot the cities and suburbs of California are in danger.

New restrictions meant to cut water use by 25 percent amid a four-year drought could force home owners to let their grass go brown unless new smart sprinkler controllers save the day. These gadgets use Wi-Fi and sensors to cut back water usage on lawns by anywhere from 30 to 50 percent.

"It's a proven technology," said David Sedlak, co-director of the Berkeley Water Center and author of "Water 4.0: The Past, Present, and Future of the World's Most Vital Resource."

California is taking unprecedented measures to address the prolonged drought. On Wednesday, Gov. Jerry Brown held a press conference to issue the executive order. His message was clear: "The idea of your nice little green lawn getting watered every day, those days are past."

While agriculture uses 80 percent of the water in California, there is still plenty of H20 used in residential areas. And a lot of that is being wasted. Nationally, 50 percent of the water used on lawns disappears thanks to the wind, evaporation and runoff, according to the EPA.

Smart sprinkler controllers want to prevent all of that water from disappearing. They work kind of like Nest, the smart thermostat, except that they regulate water use instead of the temperature.

Rachio is already available at Home Depot and will start appearing at Best Buy locations next month. Skydrop will be at every Lowe's in the country starting on May 1 (Both are already available online). They use a Wi-Fi connection to constantly monitor local weather conditions. Combined with data about the lawn (e.g. the slope, soil type, and vegetation), they automatically tell the sprinkler system how much water to release.

"Normal sprinkler controllers are almost like egg timers, and they control a very valuable resource," Chris Klein, co-founder of Rachio, told NBC News.

"They have no concept of the environment around them they don't know what season it is, they don't know what the weather is like. With the technology that we have today, there is no reason to have these kinds of controllers anymore."

When lawns do need water, these smart controllers release it in timed bursts so that the water is absorbed completely before the soil gets hit with more. That prevents water from pooling in the sun to evaporate or oversaturating the lawn and running down the driveway.

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How Tech Could Save California Lawns