A Waste of Water

Richard recently suggested tying some of my posts more heavily into Green Values, so today's post has to do with Value #1: Ecological Wisdom.

My family and I had walked to a nearby park this evening. On the way back, I noticed one of my neighbors had turned a sprinkler on. It was past 7, so it wasn't the typical waste of water (you know, when it evaporates as fast as you can spray it on a hot summer day?). What was a waste was the area this neighbor was watering.

I live in a townhouse complex with only 17 units. In front of each house is a one-car driveway and a concrete walkway bordered by two garden areas about 3x7 feet or so. As you might imagine, using a sprinkler for this minute parcel of land is ridiculous. the sprinkler sprayed more water on the street, the driveway and the walkway than on the area that needed it the most: the gardens!

It gets me riled up when I see wasteful behaviors like this (I should add that my neighbor was nowhere in sight, and judging by the amount of water everywhere, the sprinkler had been left on for a considerable amount of time). Not only is it unecological and selfish for someone to abuse our water source like this, it's expensive. The cost of water in our area has risen pretty steadily over the last few years (something like 20-30%). Since our community association pays the water bill, I don't know exactly how this has affected my pocket.

Think about this: We now pay an average of $1.10 for a single 20 oz bottle of water at a convenience store (at least, by my estimates). Imagine if this was the only drinkable water available (putting aside home filtration systems); how much would that bottle cost? $10? $20? The more we waste now, the more we'll be dying of thirst tomorrow.

So, what practicle policy could the GP advocate that would possibly prevent people from wasting water like this? How about permanent water restrictions? We in Maryland have only just recovered from a draught. Places like Colorado have been in a drought for over 10 years! They're getting good rainy weather this year (leading some people to call for an end to their water restrictions), but that doesn't mean they're out of the clear yet. A friend in college once told me that in LA, the water restrictions are so serious that people can only shower at certain times of the day.

Surely this isn't freedom. Then again, I'd rather be able to shower when I want/need to and drink that vital fluid when needed than be able to water my garden whenever I want. Water restrictions, however, will not change the "lawn culture" in this country that drives my neighbor to over-water something that isn't even a lawn but mostly concrete.