Watering Your Lawn & Garden Responsibly
My very
enlightened friend Jeremiah has been telling me for a long time now that
the next major world crisis is going to revolve around a shortage of
water. I believe him. We're already beginning to see hints of what the
future has in store for us.
On May 16, 2009 I read an article in the
newspaper about the serious water situation in Tampa, Florida. There was
a photo of their water holding reservoir. It was nearly empty. Citizens
are forbidden to water their lawns and also they are asked to conserve
water in other ways because the situation is very serious. Tampa built a
desalinization plant to make sea water potable, but it's been riddled
with problems since it was installed in 2003. Combined with the
expensive leaking new reservoir and the recent 3 year drought, well, you
can see Tampa has a very serious water shortage problem. They aren't
alone
A while back I was in Atlanta visiting
friends. The friend I stayed with was out of town, so he asked me to
water his plants on the deck, but he warned me to be very careful and
not let anyone see me. The reason was, Atlanta was also going through a
severe water shortage and outside watering was forbidden. They were
going through a long period of drought. All of Atlanta and the entire
metropolitan area receives its water from the Chattahoochee River. Lake
Lanier north of Atlanta acts as the “reservoir”, but due to the drought,
the water was being siphoned off much faster than it was being
replenished. To add to the dilemma, the millions of people in the
Atlanta metro area are not the only ones who depend on the Chattahoochee
for their drinking water. Both Alabama and Florida have been fighting
with Atlanta for years about who controls the water and how much each
should get.
Water the Lawn, NOT the street
I live in central Florida where it seems
everyone has a well for watering lawns. This creates some problems
because it makes it much too easy for people to waste water, especially
since it's not going through a meter and a bill isn't sent each month
for payment. When I first moved here there weren't many watering
restrictions that I knew of. Now we are only allowed to water 2 days per
week and only before 9 AM and after 5 PM. Logically I assume this is to
avoid water from being wasted by evaporation in the heat of the day. As
I ride my bike or walk around the neighborhood, it's obvious that many
people either are oblivious to the rules, or they simply don't care.
Maybe, like the infamous Leona, they think the rules apply to everyone
else, but not them. I constantly see lush green lawns being watered in
the middle of the day and I can't help but think about the needless
waste. I often see sprinklers running mid day at one home nearby even
though there is no actual lawn....just weeds poking through the sand. I
don't understand how people can be so thoughtless.
We all pay the price in the end with
tighter restrictions and less water to draw from. Each year we hear
increasingly more reports about our fragile Florida aquifer that we all
depend on for our drinking water, as well as all of our other water
needs. Collectively we are going to suck the thing dry if we don't
change our ways. Well, I exaggerate to make a point. We won't suck it
dry, but eventually we'll be sucking salt water instead of fresh water,
which will render it useless as we go thirsty.
I know other parts of the country are
having similar water shortage experiences. We're all in this together so
we must all do our part to conserve our precious natural resources,
especially water. We all depend on fresh potable water for our very
survival. Just like with food, if we are greedy and take more than our
share, someone else will likely go hungry. We may not be to that point
yet, but we're rapidly approaching it, so why not do the right thing and
start conserving now. We can no longer afford to be selfish. Water only
when it's your turn, do it at the allotted times and make sure you have
a rain gage installed on your automatic sprinkling system. There is
nothing more wasteful than a sprinkling system running in the rain.
There are many other ways of conserving water at home, but for this
article I'm focusing on the outside.
Lawns are probably the most thirsty of all
plant material to keep it looking good. Some types of grass are worse
than others. If we must have a lawn, it should be a drought tolerant
variety. What I would prefer to see is for more people to do away with
their lawns altogether, trading them in for gardens. That's what I did
shortly after I moved here. Section by section I removed the grass and
replaced it with many varieties of plants. I now have my own personal
botanical garden surrounding my home. It requires far less water than my
former lawn did and I never have to pollute the air by mowing it. Over
time I've replaced a lot of those plants with drought tolerant plants
that always look great even when there is no rain for long periods. I
highly recommend this idea. It has many benefits including less
maintenance, requires much less water and it's beautiful to look at. I
did away with my sprinkling system long ago, preferring when necessary
to water by hand held hose, making sure the water goes directly to the plants
instead of being wasted with a mass coverage. It takes a little
more effort but it's the right thing to do for our environment. Using
this hands on approach also forces me to look at each plant, one by one,
to make sure they are all in good health.
Mulching around plants is a great way to
keep the plants cool and moist, requiring less water for the plant to
stay in top shape. Natural mulch such as chipped wood, like
compost, breaks down in time, adding more nutrients to the plants,
thereby reducing a need for chemical fertilizers.
Using native plants and plants such as
succulents that have low water needs is also a great way to reduce the
need for frequent garden watering.
