A water-wise lawn
Attention SoCal; lawn owners: Cast off your cone of shame! Yes, your lawn uses water — more about that later — but when you sense judgment from the smug neighbor who replaced her lawn with colored rocks and succulents, don’t lower your eyes and slink inside.
Instead, stroll over, sadly toe a few rocks and note how your lawn is combating the “urban heat island effect” by making the neighborhood cooler and reducing the state’s demand for electricity, most of which — ahem —is produced using water.
“‘Turf’ has become this four-letter word, but our position is that turf doesn’t waste water,” said Jim Baird, a turf grass specialist at UC Riverside’s Turfgrass Research Facility (turfgrass.ucr.edu). “By removing turf, we’re creating a situation that requires more energy to cool the environment, and about two-thirds of energy production in the state requires water.”
The Environmental Protection Agency has found that air temperatures in hard-surface-areas of cities can be as much as 12 degrees warmer than in green areas, especially after sunset, said Baird. About 5 to 10% of community-wide demand for electricity is used to combat the heat island effect, he said.
So keeping your lawn can be very good for the environment, along with the more obvious benefits: erosion control, a reduction in dust, noise and fire danger, and that lovely aroma when it’s mowed.
But don’t congratulate yourself just yet. Most SoCal lawn owners waste a LOT of water because of faulty irrigation and maintenance, said Baird and turfgrass researcher Marco Schiavon.
It’s possible to reduce your water consumption significantly, and still have a healthy lawn, even in the midst of a drought, they said, but it means making some changes. See the sidebar for their five top tips.