California State University, Northridge
IN-3: Innovation 3

California is being faced with a record drought and with a shrinking water supply all California’s are being asked to reduce their water consumption by 25%. In an effort to meet this goal, CSUN began looking at options to conserve water in our landscaped areas. The goals was to ultimate reduce water consumption in large turf spaces while maintaining a playable field. The University piloted a product called Aqua Cents on our East Field to test its effectiveness and how it could help us achieve our goals. Aqua Cents offers the only technology on the market using a method of injecting pressurized hydrogels for water conservation measures in turf and landscaping. The Aqua Cents device injects agricultural grade hydrogels beneath the turf’s surface to help retain moisture. This material acts as a sponge below the root zone, holding any excess irrigation water until the roots extract it.

This product has helped the university reduce water consumption on the East Field by 50%-70% during the testing period. Because the product performed so well, two additional locations (North Field and Sierra Quad) were treated. CSUN is estimating an annual water savings of 7,320,000 gallons from these three projects.