Replacing Lawns

This year our big theme at Eden By The Bay is “living with drought.” I’m on a quest for ideas that the home gardener can implement to help save water, not just for a dry season, but for decades to come. We don’t want to get rid of our landscapes, because they are beautiful and beneficial. But what fundamental practices and attitudes can we change to meet the water shortage challenge? Today I’m looking at lawns.

Lawns are green and beckoning and peaceful, but they require substantial water, fertilizer, and labor. We often install a lawn without considering the cost in water, or the alternatives. In California, the residential sector uses 5.6 million acre feet (MAF) of water, with 2.3 MAF going to our landscapes and lawns. In Alameda County, we use 173.9 gallons of water per person per day. The East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) reports that 25% of external residential water usage goes to landscapes and lawns. That’s a lot of water!

Time to rethink our lawns!

Water saving alternatives include substantially reducing lawn size (if you have kids or pets, a small patch of lawn might be desirable), or replacing the lawn entirely with a low-water, low-maintenance landscape solution. Rebates may even be available, depending on where you live. Currently EBMUD is offering residential rebates up to $2,500 in the Bay Area to replace lawns and wasteful sprinkler systems with drip irrigation. The EBMUD web site provides the requirements, ideas, and access to some excellent planning tools: https://ebmud.com/water-and-wastewater/water-conservation/lawn-conversion-irrigation-upgrade-rebates

National Geographic: When the Snows Fail

To learn more about the California drought, I turned to the National Geographic, the October 2014 issue (Vol. 226, No. 4). Nat Geo has been covering water issues in the American West (and the world), for some time now. I like their pictorial style of reporting, and creative use of charts and graphs to convey complex information. This article is by science writer Michelle Nijhuis, and photographer Peter Essick.

 

The article describes how most of the water in California comes from snow melt. Snow collects high in California’s mountain ranges. A state-wide system of dams collects snow melt, and a complex series of waterways, canals, and pipes redirects water to where it is needed. This water supplements surface water from rivers (such as the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers), ground water, and aquifers. In California and the West, more of our water comes from snowpack than rain. The snowpack has declined significantly in the past several decades. The article provides sobering graphics showing snowpack change over the past 60 years; drought conditions in the West; freshwater use in the West; wild fire trends over the last 30 years; and snowpack report for California.

The article also describes how Australia, when faced with a similar situation after a decade of drought, reduced urban water use, reformed the water allocation system, and provided incentives for farmers to use water more efficiently. Water use dropped, and water is now allocated equitably to the environment, farmers, and urban areas. In contrast, California has continued current practices, and taken no steps to ensure water availability for the future. Take a look: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/west-snow-fail/

Living with Drought

On our Thanksgiving trip to Southern California, driving down Interstate 5 in the Central Valley, I was dismayed to see so much rich farmland laying fallow, or with dead and dying orchards. I have been following the drought on National Public Radio, so know our farmers are struggling with water rationing and expensive water. But it hit home to see the dry fields and swirling dust devils, and read the political signs along the side of the road: “Congress Created Dust Bowl”; “No Water, No Jobs”; “Food Grows Where Water Flows”. The Central Valley of California has some of the most fertile land in the world – and it is going to waste!



Dry field in the Central Valley

 

I realize the water issue is complex. I have been listening to arguments from all sides, and trying to understand the issues. Is it practical to transport the scarce water resource to cultivate this land? Is it conscionable to leave it fallow, while famine exists in the world? What about the green lawns in Southern California, while our lawns are brown in Northern California? How does our yearning to restore the inland wetlands and marshes, which once teamed with migrating birds, factor in? Is our current method of doling out water equitable? Are individual water rights from the 1800s just and pragmatic in a world with over 7 billion people and growing exponentially? Will Proposition 1, the water bond that passed in last fall’s election, help California? Or end up benefiting only a few? With so much at stake, should this issue be looked at from a higher level, rather than at the individual level?

Irrigated field, just a few miles away

 

I’m afraid Eden By The Bay is not equipped to tackle all facets of this complex issue. But over the year, I’m hoping to unpack a little bit of it, and come up with some ideas and practices to help the home gardener live with drought. Collectively we might be able to make a small difference, just by changing some of our gardening attitudes and habits. As for the larger issues, stay informed and speak up!