The Okanagan Valley in Southern British Columbia covers approximately 8000 square miles, we all draw our water from virtually the same basin, there is a limited amount available, and we all need to be water wise. For some of us that seems to be a bit easier then others. They have installed water meters in our country subdivision, although from what we hear, there was a huge outcry against them… they are not hooked up yet, but one day they will be. There are still homes that refuse to have them installed, and are fighting tooth and nail to make sure they don’t have them.
It makes me wonder if those are the people I see watering the lawn continuously, the sprinkler going all day long, dousing the grass with more then the recommended inch of water per week. It seems they will do what they have always done, despite a cool wet spring. It rains here every second day, of course it’s not the downpour of the coast, the constant drip that seems never ending, but it’s enough to keep the grass green for now. Are they trying to store the water? Or are they just obsessive about green grass? I am so conscious of each drop that I use, we sweep the driveway, never washing it, each newly planted flower is watered by hand with a wand, and the spigot turned off between plants. I felt bad about transplanting my hosta’s, and ferns into a shade garden, and vowed not to replace them should they burn up this summer.
We are in the process of researching either a more drought resistant grass seed, or a lawn replacement that needs little or no water. And then we have neighbours who in this every second day of rain season are sprinkling their grass for hours. Even if they have reseeded their lawn, it’s excessive, and not needed.
It makes me wonder, and it makes me burn up, and it’s not even summer yet.