water conservation initiatives in 2015

For the growers in the state of California. What are some of your water conservation initiatives?

I'm curious to see what others are doing.

I can think of:
mulching
Using RO water during specific times (nearing end of harvest and for brewing AACT)
Adding amendments to soil that retain more moisture
Limiting the amount of runoff when watering

Anything else to add?

soil moisture retention is getting bigger attention everywhere. The question as to which is more wasteful, soil growing(and production of soil) or certain types of hydro like dwc, needs to be asked. All I know if it doesn't stay wet in CO the state is going to owe the southwest all of its water. A very big issue. I wonder what others are doing and how big awareness is. Hopefully were not pretending like nothing is happening. I haven't watered the lawn once this year in CO though. Mu garden actually flooded out.

My wife made this suggestion based off something she read online about soil water retention. The material used in diapers that absorbs liquid can be removed. It is only a little bit, but holds something like 1000x it's weight in water. You just mix some of it into your soil mix, and water normally. It dries safely in the mix, and isn't absorbed by the plant. I don't know if too much of this would lead to an overwatering effect, or if it holds water well enough to not drown the roots depending on how much is used.

If it were me I'd be trying to collect every bit of rain water that I could. Best of luck out there