Watering grass? Wasteful?
On the surface, it seems like a silly question. But there’s more than meets the eye.
How much water does it take to keep grass alive? Depends on the climate. In hot and dry areas, the answer is “lots.” Generally, grass needs 1” – 2” of rain per week in the summertime to maintain health and prevent browning out.
So what were the laws behind the green stuff before humans meddled with nature? Nature has its own ways of sustaining plants, like natural rainfall, snowfall, and evaporation from bodies of water. Humans stepped in, enhanced certain species of plants with chemical fertilizer, and started shoveling up weeds.
Nowadays, there is an enormous demand for irrigation systems to get that green look most people crave these days. What was once done naturally is now done artificially – and the high cost of technological advances brings with it an environmental cost, too: precious water resources are depleted at an unprecedented rate, with much of it going unused or wasted as run-off into rivers, soil quality drops; fertilizers harm aquatic life, etc.
Basically, nature can get along just fine without human intervention – so if you don’t need to irrigate your lawn to keep it looking good, then don’t do it! Nature knows best – she always did!