Water Conservation

I heard a rumor that China was buying our fresh water. Certainly our government wouldn't allow that, right? I don't understand why when I live in Texas, our local home owner associations will NOT let you install the good quality artifical grass that they use in California, Arizona, and Nevada. Why would you restrict this beautiful looking, NFL field quality front yard that doesn't use any water and see what the western states have noticed for years... There's no need for maintenance OR WATER and the grass stays green all year!!!!!! They insist on mass watering our roadway medians that are hundreds of fee across since we need to see green for our money when we drive into our communities! It's a real disgrace that we waste water while animals are dying due to lack of water and humans will be next!
G-d bless America, especially our leaders!!!

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Permalink Reply by Peter Csere on August 18, 2012 at 6:02am

The best solution to grass might seem to be introducing large quantities of artificial turf made with petroleum that leaches harmful chemicals into the drinking water, but the best solution is just better soil. Have you ever seen an unkempt field or prairie dying for lack of water? In extreme drought conditions, maybe, but fields are many times more drought resistant than a lawn. Why?

Lawns are cut really short, and are walked on. This compacts the soil, greatly reducing its ability to absorb water. In addition, not only are the cuttings usually removed, but any leaves or organic matter that falls on the soil is removed. And the constant cutting of the grass to an unnaturally low level means it grows slower than usual, so it produces less of its own organic matter to replenish the "sponginess" of the soil.

In the woods, every year, a significant quantity of leaves fall and create new soil for the next year. Touch the soil under the leaves 2 weeks after it rained. It's NEVER dry! A field has tall grass constantly growing and dying and the ground is a big sponge of curled over dead grass, moss, and worm castings.

So we try to make these artificially pretty spaces and end up with death.

By not removing clippings, reducing compaction, not using chemicals that kill earthworms or moles/voles (they do a lot of tilling!) and even introducing smaller-particle organic matter that improves top soil water retention without any aesthetic disruption, we can have lawns that require far less watering. In addition, using rain barrels to collect rain for watering lawns is a far better method than using groundwater, but some states and local zoning boards have made that practice illegal to force people to buy municipal water. There are other practices such as scheduling certain lawn sections to grow high for a month and then cut, and rotating.