In 2009, engineers at the University of Illinois began developing a system to solve this problem. Two years later, after winning the EPA’s P3 sustainable design competition, the Waterbelly is available for purchase. The Waterbelly combines solar power, innovative controls, and moisture monitoring equipment to automatically water your plants, flowers, and trees – only when they need it. In addition to distributing water more efficiently, this allows customers to reduce fuel consumption, carbon emissions, and horticultural maintenance costs by up to 95%.