We Are in a Serious Drought

The Palisadian-Post has partnered with locally founded environmental nonprofit Resilient Palisades to deliver a weekly “green tip” to our readers. This week’s tip was written by Sheda Morshed and Ryan Craig.

It’s hardly noticeable when you look around our residential gardens, but Southern California is in an unprecedented, record-breaking drought.

Our water supply comes from the Colorado River, the Sierra snowpack, and the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Climate change has exacerbated the problem with rising temperatures and lower precipitation. If you’re not convinced, just do a Google image search for “Lake Oroville 2022.” The Metropolitan Water District says it will only be able to deliver about 5% of its usual water allocation this year.

Lawns, which have been especially singled out as water-wasting culprits, account for 40% to 60% of landscape irrigation in California. Overall, outdoor water is estimated to account for about 50% of annual residential water consumption statewide. It’s even higher in affluent communities like ours.

So aside from taking shorter showers, using high-efficiency clothes and dish washers, and always viewing tap water as a very precious and limited resource, the largest reduction might come outdoors of your house, apartment complex or workplace. That’s why effective June 1, the MWD has restricted all outdoor watering to one time per week. Consider the following:

Meadows over lawns: Speak with knowledgeable low-water landscapers like FormLA, Dirty Girl Organic LandCare, SelvaInternational and others about replacing any area of lawn that is solely for aesthetics. Aside from conserving water, a meadow will also remove air pollutants, eliminate the need for chemical fertilizers and other fossil-fuel inputs, and provide habitat for butterflies and other beneficial pollinators.

A few drought-tolerant, no-mow lawn options are Carex, Thymus praecox arcticus, Festuca rubra and Agrostis pallens.

Reduce your lawn area by planting trees, preferably a species native to our region. Trees help store water in the ground that creates a healthy soil environment. Trees will also beautify your neighborhood and reduce peak summer temperatures by 2 to 9°F. Contact Palisades Forestry Council for free parkway trees.

Avoid installing artificial plastic turf. This ridiculous product radiates heat and increases ambient temperatures, is made of toxic chemicals that harm our families and environment, kills living soil and its carbon dioxide-absorbing properties, and destroys essential wildlife habitat.

Consider a greywater system to recycle your used indoor water in your garden: greywatercorps.com

See something, say something. Do your part and report water waste by calling 1-800-DIAL-DWP (1-800-342-5397) or using the MYLA311 Phone App.