Opinion: Who needs lawns?
Utah’s current drought should not come as a surprise to anyone, with climate change having drastic changes such as rising temperatures, precipitation and water levels in lakes, canals and reservoirs. But there are ways to help the Utah environment in this trying time.
Stop air-conditioning
Air conditioning units may be more harmful than most carbon-dioxide producing objects, and the simple way to help is to use your air conditioning less and less. According to Gretchen Brown, a journalist for Rewire, the hydrofluorocarbons produced by air conditioning is a harmful greenhouse gas that can be trapped in the Earth’s atmosphere. While they may only account for a small percentage of these gases, they are extremely dangerous.
However, cutting down on the use of these gases may be difficult as we still need to stay cool in our houses and keep our food from going bad in our refrigerators. But we must help by only turning on the AC when necessary, timing the usage, using more energy-efficient conditioners and using fans and windows first.
Save water
This one is a given, but we can do so much by shortening shower time, not always flushing the toilet, using fewer dishes and laundry, not going to the car wash, drinking less water, and turning off fountains and any other water displays or recreation. We should also save on water by using secondary water — untreated water usually used for landscaping.
Get rid of lawns
To save on watering plants and lawns, we should get rid of them altogether. Utah is a desert landscape that isn’t supposed to have lawns in the first place. Keeping some large lands for parks and sports fields is fine, but private lawns on homes should be restricted.
A writer for Ezine Articles, Philip Kilworth, stated, “Thousands of gallons a year can be wasted watering outdoor plantings and yards.” Homeowners are constantly overwatering their lawns, and the waste can result in less drinking water distribution. Utah lakes such as Jordanelle Reservoir, Lake Powell, Utah Lake and Bear Lake are suffering from lower water levels that negatively affect the ecosystem.
If Utah citizens work together to save on energy and water, we can get through this drought that may affect the precipitation for the rest of the year. We should be telling the people we know — especially land and business owners — to water their plants and lawns rarely and for a short amount of time. If possible, we should push to replace their lawns so as not to waste any water at all. Making small sacrifices will help in the long run and slow down the progress of climate change and its effects on Utah’s environment and people.
Megan Cowdell is a sophomore opinion columnist studying for a bachelor’s in communications. She loves music, reading and wants to write books for a living.
megan.cowdell@usu.edu
No statistics. Mostly hype. Ignorant comment of “drinking less water”. Want to comment on 80-85% of water usage is farming and ranching, and flood irrigation (not metered) with little investment into new irrigation techniques?
I share Ms. Cowdell’s concern about water and drought in the state of Utah as well as the broader region. However, the suggestion that replacing residential lawns will automatically lead to water savings is misguided and fails to recognize the ecosystem services that are provided by grasses.
Wide-scale removal of lawns and grass areas will result in the loss of structural cooling that results from these plant’s proximity to homes and other buildings, as well as the carbon sequestration they provide, the bio-filtration of particulates and nutrients, and the retention of stormwater onsite. There is also a large body of research and ongoing effort to develop and utilize grass species and varieties that are low–and in some cases–no water use options.
Lastly, having evaluated many residential and commercial landscape irrigation systems in Utah, I can say with absolute certainty that most Utahn’s do not realize how much water they are using each time they turn on their sprinkler systems. They are also largely unaware of plant water requirements. In fact, if Utahn’s watered to actual plant requirements there would be a near instantaneous reduction in municipal water use of 50%.
Let’s not throw out the baby with the proverbial bathwater.
I get this an opinion article, but have you ever thought of the possible benefits of turfgrass? Have you considered the fact that turfgrass and other landscape plants are giant filters that clean our air? I’ll be the first to agree that home lawns are generally over irrigated, but rather than ripping out the evil grass and plants why don’t we first educate ourselves on proper landscape maintenance, or perhaps we can consider low water use alternatives, such as buffalo grass, tall fescue, zoysia grass, blue grama, crested wheatgrass or bermuda grass.
It’s my opinion that with the right plant selection and a little education, homeowners can save tremendous amounts of water and still maintain a beautiful landscape. cwel.usu.edu