LA Can Weather Drought and Take Showers

Newport Beach, CA, June 11, 2007 - Los Angeles residents are being urged to take shorter showers to help the region cut water usage by 10 percent in the driest year since records began 130 years ago.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the city needed "to change course and conserve water to steer clear of this perfect storm."

What Angelenos should know is that the biggest opportunity for water savings is right in their backyards. Landscapes consume 58 percent of household water, according to the American Water Works Association, and are overwatered by anywhere from 30 to 300 percent.

Smart water management solutions such as the WeatherTRAK smart controller (www.weathertrak.com) typically pay for themselves in water bill savings within a year (systems start from just $500 before water agency rebates). The technology adjusts landscape watering based on plants' true water needs and daily weather conditions.

WeatherTRAK smart controllers are proven in 22 independent studies to maximize water savings. The smart controllers also curb urban runoff pollution from overwatered landscapes. In an effort to protect its coastline, the City of Newport Beach offers homeowners free WeatherTRAK controllers.

"Many investments promise paybacks. Only WeatherTRAK delivered. My water bill is 40 percent less," said Wayne Herbert, owner of a McDonald's franchise in Simi Valley, California.

"WeatherTRAK customers will save a billion gallons of water in 2007," said HydroPoint Director of Conservation Tom Ash.

Meeting the state's water needs consumes 19 percent of California's electricity and 30 percent of its natural gas, according to the California Energy Commission. If every California landscape were watered efficiently, we'd save 8 billion kilowatts of electricity annually - roughly enough power for 22 million clothes washing machines.

WeatherTRAK smart controllers are eligible for rebates offered by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and in 150 cities throughout the U.S.

Anyone can view their potential water savings with WeatherTRAK at www.weathertrak.com/savings.

About HydroPoint Data Systems, Inc.
HydroPoint provides WeatherTRAK smart irrigation solutions directly and through the Toro® and Irritrol® brands to 15,000 customers including the Fortune 1000, private individuals, municipalities and water districts. Twenty-two independent studies prove that WeatherTRAK systems maximize water conservation and improve landscape health. In particular, a California EPA-funded study demonstrated the WeatherTRAK solution's ability to reduce non-point source runoff pollution by 71 percent. Additionally, the WeatherTRAK product line received perfect scores across the board on the Smart Water Application TechnologyT protocol, developed by a consortium of agencies and civic leaders to objectively measure smart controller performance. Based on this track record of success, WeatherTRAK solutions are eligible for all public agency rebate programs and meet the State of California's new standards for irrigation equipment. Headquartered in Petaluma, California, HydroPoint is privately owned and operated. For more information, visit www.weathertrak.com.