Water, water...nowhere

The drought in Austin the last couple of years really changed me. I used to see a gorgeous rolling green lawn and think "wow that's nice" and "I'd love to play soccer on something like that someday."

Now I just think, "wow those people are shameless."

If we could just stop forcing grass to grow in front of houses where it really doesn't want to grow, it would make a huge difference.

 

2 years after I left East Texas, the town 10 minutes south of where I lived came a few weeks from completely running out of water. They had to resort to building a miles-long pipeline through a state park so they could drink the water out of a quarry. No idea if they ever found a more permanent solution; that was only supposed to last 4 months.

I'm so happy to be from Texas vice IN Texas.

 

Meh, not as much as you think, in most climates. 30 years ago, the average lawn was larger than it is today for a typical residential lot, but it was ludicrous to think about planting any type of turf that required irrigation, particularly with treated municipal water. In August/September, your lawn just turned brown, then greened up a bit before winter.

Today with larger roofs and smaller lots, it should be easier to maintain a native grass lawn w/o treated water irrigation with a combination of a cistern and a rain water collection system from the gutters. But we don't do that, because we're lazy. Not only that, we demand lush turf species with high water demands that don't do very well with much sunlight, so we can have the idyllic front lawn "curb appeal". Couple that with fewer trees required for subdivisions and smaller trees, and minimal requirements for topsoiling, lawns bake in the sunlight. Then couple all that with municipal landscaping minimal requirements for commercial owners and other "beautification" codes in subdivision HOA rules and you are legally forcing increased water consumption.

All that aside, the author leaves out urban areas, intentionally or not, that are also a huge culprit in the water problem. Aside from industrial uses, most cities have older suburbs that have long since been enveloped by development and the regions have little, if any means for retaining water for groundwater recharge and very little stormwater management other than getting the water into a pipe and the nearest creek/river as soon as possible. That practice only increases flooding concerns down stream and does zero to conserve water for either commercial, industrial or residential uses that don't require full treatment to potability.

 

Well, plumbers claim that "your shit is our bread and butter", so perhaps not a stretch.