He didn’t care how nice it looked. Buddy loved a big expanse of frequently watered and mowed turf for its other qualities.
We can often discern a town’s attitude toward climate threats just by driving through a neighborhood or two. Most protections are very local. After all, lots of the damage from flooding, wildfires, water scarcity, and other climate problems will be very local.
ClimateDog is, for the moment, a sort of field guide to adaptation measures. Sandbags stored near the riverbank, a growing number of electric school buses, and other indicators are beginning to help passers-by see how a town assesses climate threats and what it intends to do to protect residents.
So here’s another indicator: lawns
Many towns are beginning to realize that outdoor watering accounts for a huge proportion of their water use. In Southern California it can be up to 50%!
Where towns are starting to worry about their water supply, we’re seeing less lawn and more drought-resistant ground cover. Stuff like ‘creeping’ and ‘dwarf’ plants, fescues, Bermudagrass and Buffalograss. Some homes have gone further, moving to xeriscaping, a low-maintenance form of landscaping that requires way less water than a lawn. It gives this sort of look.
Where?
Towns with water restrictions aren’t only in the dry parts of the country.
Woodbury in Minnesota, “Land of Ten Thousand Lakes,” limits lawn watering to two days a week and not in the afternoon.
In the dry season, some Massachusetts towns stop you from putting down new sod, seeding, or landscaping. You can’t wash your sidewalks, patios, driveways, siding, car, or boat. And of course no filling of swimming pools or hot tubs.
Many Texas homes are not allowed to . . . but here, have a look.
How?
There’s a wide range of restrictions. Some are purely voluntary; others are municipal ordinances like water rationing; some are even state laws.
A number of towns control only future lawns; no need to fight over anything today. Upscale Scottsdale, AZ has banned the creation of natural grass in front of future single-family homes.
California, in its third year of drought, will be banning the use of potable water for purely decorative grass along roads, in medians, outside businesses, and in common areas of homeowners associations.
Las Vegas has perhaps the strongest regulations. Authorities have been digging up patches of grass along streets and at housing developments and commercial sites, in favor of more desert-friendly landscaping.
Some towns offer help. Around Phoenix, they have been paying residents hundreds or thousands of dollars to replace their lawn with drought-resistant vegetation.
Why?
The main reason, of course, is to preserve our diminishing water sources, but there are immediate financial benefits too. The average family spends $1,100 per year in water costs. But those with lawns pay a lot more. For instance
In Atlanta water and sewer costs are $29.20 for every 1,000 gallons of water coming out of the tap. That means if you water a 100’ x 100’ yard one inch every week, the cost will add up close to $725 a month. [WaterSignal]
There’s an impact of saving water on the finances of our town too. Municipal budgets and taxes can be reduced if water treatment, pipe maintenance, and development of a new water source can be delayed.
There’s opposition
The wide variation in water restrictions is based on levels of drought - but perhaps more so on the levels of resident opposition. Yes, there are many people who are not tolerant of drought-tolerant landscaping, who don’t worry about water shortages, mower emissions, noise pollution, and other local lawn risks.
They downplay those objections and substitute their own (perfectly understandable) concerns, starting with aesthetics but mostly focusing on how the ‘curb appeal’ of good lawns raises the value of their homes. Homeowner associations (about 25% of US homes belong to an HOA) have been clamping down on residents who let their lawns go brown or wild, even taking people to court over the state of their yards.
What we can do
Finding vegetation that tolerates drought may be easy. Persuading neighbors to plant it - not so easy. Here are some ideas.
Conserve outdoor water ourselves.
Admire and point out local water conservation measures to others. It may not take much to change the definition of ‘curb appeal’ to include attractive drought-tolerant landscaping. Maybe a Best Front Yard contest would help.
Ask a realtor about the effect on the price of a house that’s replaced its lawn with a drought-tolerant front yard. If they can’t point to an actual drop in value, spread the word.
Historically, well-manicured lawns have been an American symbol of high status. We should discuss, but not disparage, a neighbor’s lawn. To them that lawn likely reflects success and stability. Our goal should be to help residents see that a nicely laid out drought-tolerant yard provides the as much status.
If someone is desperate, we can suggest they spray paint their brown lawn green. Really!
Other water savings
Of course just passing down the street we can’t see its residents using many other ways of saving water. Like turning off the faucet while they brush their teeth, following the ‘if it’s yellow, let it mellow’ rule with their toilet, washing only full loads of dishes or laundry, or taking a short shower with a friend under a water-saving shower head.
As things get serious, we may start seeing another adaptation indicator in the neighborhood.
LEARN, THINK, ACT
California targets ‘nonfunctional’ grass
How xeriscaping can increase your property’s value
Water-Saving Landscaping Rebates by locality
Brown lawns? Not such a bad idea!
Use Lawn Paint to make a brown lawn green again
These cities will pay you to get rid of your lawn
Other local climate adaptations: sand bags stored near the riverbank. A growing number of electric school buses.
Thanks, David, for covering this topic. Here is one thing that you can do: get a copy of the book Life After Lawns--8 Steps From Grass To A Waterwise Garden, by Molly Bogh and Bill Schnetz. Link: https://www.amazon.com/Life-After-Lawns-Waterwise-Garden/dp/1492955108.
Full disclosure: Molly is my cousin (our mothers were sisters). Molly lives in Southern California near San Bernardino where it is very dry. She writes about how to plan for a lawn and garden that only sips water, and then to actually go about doing it. It is a wonderfully produced and excellent book as I mention in my review on that link (first review, by me, NavalArch.) As I say in my review, you really should buy two copies, one to leave in your garden shed (where it will get stained, dog-eared, and messed up) and the other to leave on the bookshelf because it is such a pretty book.
in fire zonesx anything beyond xeriscaping is more of a fire hazard