Here in the Pacific Northwest, where it pours rain for more than half the year, people joke that the speed signs are marked in knots, not miles. Having enough water, it seems, should be the least of our worries.

But that popular perception is dead wrong.

The Pacific Northwest may be all wet in the winter - most winters - but like the rest of the West, it dries up when summer hits. Yet Oregonians haven't adopted dry-country habits, an oversight that may be partially shaped by history.

The West was settled by people accustomed to farming and gardening in climates where summer water was abundant. That has shaped much of what we do here, according to county extension agent Linda McMahan.

"I think we're dealing with tradition; people have ancestors who moved here from another country or another part of this country. In those areas, there's not so much of a problem with summer water," she said. "A lot of typical garden plants come from Europe or Asia, where water is more evenly distributed throughout the year."

But conservation may become critical as more and more people jockey for their share of a limited resource and environmental regulations mandate leaving enough in-stream flow to support fish.

In Oregon, where there is little summer rain, cities say water use more than doubles during the hot, dry summer months, as homeowners and businesses water lavishly to keep flowers blooming, lawns lush and gardens flourishing.

Familiarity has in many cases kept people from adapting to conditions here, McMahan said.

"When people moved here from the Midwest, they wanted a garden like they had at home. When we grow up, we want a garden like our parents had. And those plants typically aren't the natives."

However, there is a growing movement toward landscaping instead with native plants, which typically require far less water.

"A lot of our native plants evolved under the weather conditions of the Willamette Valley, which is that it doesn't rain much in the summer, and they can tolerate that better than some plants that grew up elsewhere," said extension agent Susan Aldrich-Markham, who is active in the county's Native Plant Society.

Planting native species also avoids the threat of exotic species escaping to create a nuisance in wild areas, she said. Species such as Himalayan blackberry, purple loosestrife, English ivy and Scotch broom are notorious for the damage they have caused by crowding out native species, particularly in riparian areas.

"A trip to the library's native plant garden can be very educational," said Rob Tracey of the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service. "There are lots of beautiful trees and shrubs, so it's not as if you give something up."

McMahan said the unknown quality of native plants sometimes frightens people off. "Some people think they will look wild, but that's a matter of gardening style," she said.

Some of her favorites are red-flowering currant and Oregon iris, she said.

Native plants can be difficult to find. "There are many natives that are marvelous garden plants, but nurseries just carry standard, mass-produced selections," McMahan said.

To help fill the void, the Yamhill Soil & Water Conservation District sponsors an annual sale of native trees, shrubs, groundcovers and flowers, along with providing information about native plants.

The Oregon State Extension Service offers numerous tips about water conservation in the home and yard on its web site, www.orst.edu/extension.

Drought-related publications also are available through the Extension Office at 2050 Lafayette Ave., McMinnville. Most cost less than $1.

In the yard, McMahan said, "There's actually quite a lot people can do, even if they don't want to change a single plant they've got." One of the biggest water-savers, she said, is allowing lawns to go dormant during the summer months, and revive naturally with the fall rains.

For plants that must be watered, drip irrigation on timing systems can go a long way toward reducing waste, McMahan said. "I think a lot of people water every day, whether it's needed or not," she said.

The yard isn't the only place where people can save water, either.

In 1999, the city of Lafayette embarked on a pilot project with the city of Wilsonville, Portland General Electric, the state Energy Office, the U.S. Department of Energy and several agencies and businesses.

The goal was to see how much water people were using with everyday appliances, and how much could be saved if they switched to more water-efficient models.

Twenty-five families were given free water- and energy-efficient clothes washers, dishwashers and toilets. Their water and energy use was monitored before and after the switch.

The Oregon Office of Energy said the savings averaged more than 18,000 gallons of water and 840 kilowatt hours of energy annually - a 25 percent reduction. It reported that one participant is saving 30,000 gallons of water a year, no small consideration in a town whose water rates have skyrocketed in recent years.

The city offers a $40 credit on water bills for residents switching to the more efficient appliances, and 9.9 percent interest loans for resource-saving appliances, irrigation equipment and fixtures. However, City Administrator Phil Lieberman said few residents have taken advantage of the offers.

The state Energy Office also offers tax credits for water and energy-efficient appliances on its approved list. More information is available on its web site, at www.energy.state.or.us.

In many parts of the world, water conservation has been a must for years, resulting in far more efficiency than seen in the United States.

According to Ingeborg West of the Washington-based HWA GeoSciences Inc., "I can tell you from many visits to Germany that water conservation is the main contributor to low water use. Dishwashers and washing machines are all designed to use very little water.

"New homes get rebates if they build underground water storage facilities that collect rain water, which is used for the toilets. And washing your cars is only done at designated service stations. Water is treated as precious."

For the Lafayette study, super-efficient toilets were imported from Australia, as they are not widely available in the United States.

But according to the Oregon Office of Energy, even modern American toilets can make a big difference. Its publication on the study noted, "Other studies have shown that if your toilets were installed before 1992, replacing them with any new models you can buy today will save about 10,000 gallons of water a year."

In the state of Washington, civil engineer Thomas Holz has been drawing attention to a concept he calls "zero-impact development," a way of building houses and streets to eliminate the staggering runoff they cause. Holz, hydrologic services director for SCA Consulting Group an engineering, consulting and land-planning organization based in Lacey, Wash., has been advocating his ideas throughout the region.

He argues that covering just 10 percent of a watershed with surfaces impermeable to water can wreck a stream's ability to support salmon, and says it is vital for development practices to become more environmentally sustainable.

In an undisturbed Northwest watershed, about half of the annual rain is used by plants. The rest falls onto the forest floor, where it percolates down and gradually, over months and years, recharges aquifers and streams.

Removing the vegetation and thick duff of the forest floor and building over much of the surface creates enormous amounts of runoff that goes directly into streams in a matter of hours. That not only reduces groundwater recharge, it also damages streams, because of the huge volume and pollutant contamination.

Holz proposes that development be fitted to the land instead of the other way around.

Instead of wide streets and rambling houses with expanses of lawn, he envisions roads just wide enough for two vehicles to pass, with innovative surfaces that would allow water to penetrate and reach the ground. Buildings would be tall and narrow, with rooftop gardens. Gutters and downspouts would be eliminated.

As much of the native vegetation as possible would be saved. Driveways would no longer be expanses of concrete, but two strips the width of car tires, with grass growing between.

Parking structures would be located underneath buildings whenever possible. Alternatively, they would be covered, with vegetation growing on their roofs to absorb rainfall.

Holz's ideas have garnered widespread attention. They are being tried in a few scattered areas, but haven't won wide implementation. One problem is that they defy conventional development codes almost everywhere.

However, there are efforts under way to limit development damage through less radical means.

On the coast, the state department of Land Conservation and Development sponsors the Oregon Ocean-Coastal Management Program. Among other things, it offers pamphlets for municipalities seeking to create more environmentally friendly development ordinances.

In Yamhill County, the Yamhill Soil & Water Conservation District offers help to landowners and homeowners seeking to improve fish and wildlife habitat or make other environmental improvements to their property.

McMinnville resident Kareen Sturgeon, a professor at Linfield College, took advantage of the program a few years ago to stop the runoff from her roof from pouring into Cozine Creek. Instead, the water now empties into a historically boggy area of her back yard, where it sinks into the ground and gradually percolates through the soil until it seeps into the stream naturally.

"It's really something everybody that lives along the Cozine should do," Sturgeon said.

The project was surprisingly easy, she said, and cost less than $50.

It requires a small amount of maintenance to keep the gravel catch basin clear, she said, but little more than the area required anyway.