With the heat wave thats hittibg my country I was watering my back yard today, and began wondering if there Is such a thing as wasting water when doing so… I mean, it re-enters the water cycle, doesn’t It? Besides if its absorbed by the plants AND grass … Is It really wasted?
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I’m researching this for my final right now.
Turns out the public only uses 12% of the freshwater for drinking, lawns, showers etc.
32% is used to grow food. Biggest portion of this is used to feed animals for meat.
It takes 280-1,847 gallons of water for 1lb of beef.
45% is evaporated away to generate electricity. Biggest use is for heaters/AC units.
Leaving just 1 lightbulb on for 20 hours burns up about a gallon of water.
Don’t worry about your lawn, eat a salad once a week and turn off the lights!
Edit: Beef statistic was significantly off, but still high. I also changed the water stat from 6 to 12%
Yes and no. If you water plants and grass you either use drinking water or water from the ground. It takes years to get back to the level you took it from.
That being said, they’re building wind mills near my house and the amount of water they pumped up straight into the sewer is probably larger than the water our community uses. So I see no point being extra economical with the water I pump up.
Water you plants in the morning or evening when it’s not hot, so less is lost from evaporation. I don’t bother watering grass cause grass honestly isn’t that beneficial to the environment anyway.
There’s ways you can be proactive to protect your grass in the future. As in; don’t cut it as short. And when you do cut it, try to do it before it rains.
As an Australian who grew up during the millennium drought this post absolutely blows my mind.
Here when we have extended heatwaves and drought conditions we are subject to ratcheting laws that eventually prohibit you from watering gardens etc at all, and before that it gives designated times like dawn and dusk.
The real answer to your question is yes you are wasting the water in the sense that, although it doesn’t disappear, you are depleting water storage in your local area. It’s a much bigger question whether your local water storage can sustain you using a lot of water during an extended dry period.
This all depends on your local water-system.
If you live in a dry area, you should conserve water.
If there is normally plenty of water, it does not matter that much unless there is a temporary capacity problem.
Mostly depends on where you live.
My old dear lives (UK) a plot land downhill from a farm, and the farm pumps the water up from and underground spring and provides water to all the houses down the hill. They won’t be running that out any time soon,
My daughter lives in spain, and told me off for wasting water back in march (as they are suffering droughts out there) for letting the shower run before I got into it.
Your question is very specific to your location. There is no way to answer your question without the specifics of where you live and what your water source is. There are plenty of places in the world that have an over-abundance of water and there is no issue with you watering your lawn. If you don’t want to state your specific location, then none of the responses to this post are accurate.
It depends. Are you somewhere that naturally gets more water than it needs? Then what you’re doing is totally fine. The only waste is whatever effort went in at the treatment plant. But the water itself will replenish.
Are you somewhere with an insufficient water supply like Los Angeles? Yeah, it’s very wasteful to water your lawn.
1. The water cycle ends up with most water in the ocean. The same amount of water, just less useful.
2. Watering decorative grass lawns in areas prone to droughts is inherently wasteful in a world where supply of fresh water is diminishing and demand for fresh water is increasing.
3. If you *must* water your lawn, do it early in the evening or late at night where less of the water will evaporate before the plants can use it, and make sure you don’t have runoff going into the gutters. Water less often and more deeply so the water soaks deep into the soil instead of sitting on the surface to evaporate, and to encourage the plants to grow deeper roots.
Water in two stages. Moisten the ground (this takes very little), cover with see-through/white polytunnel material to keep moisture from evapourating. When soaked in, water again briefly.
This method helps prevent mass flooding in the first rain after a drought.
3 or 4 Watering cans worth can do my whole garden, plants thriving. Pouring water straight on to scorched earth only causes run-off so much water is wasted.
In areas prone to drought, always consider the needs of other people and animals before your own garden, unless you are providing vital food which you grow. Keep a Water Butt or two for watering your garden in drier times.
I live in an area of UK where we are very lucky with local water supplies.
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