Please tell us this weather is . . .

[mortimer]

rotorhead informed:

> ... re [Swamp cooler water use] maybe 700 gallons a season ...

That sounds about right - more if you don't plug the leaks.

> ... those number pale next to the water used for landscaping

Yup. One large lawn will use that daily.

> I'll never, ever, give up my little lawn as long as there's a
> single real turf golf course ....

meanie

[rotorhead]

It's not about being mean, there is a principle involved in that statement. I'm not a fan of any grass in front yards, and I don't have any myself. What's the point of pouring huge amounts of precious water on turf thats solely ornamental in nature? I rarely if ever see anyone out on their front lawns except to mow and maintain them. Backyards are however a different story. Here in the desert your backyard should be your oasis of green, the place where you can relax in the shade of your big trees and let the kids and the dogs run around and play in the sprinkler. With the block wall being the default fence around here its easy to define a backyard space thats green, cool and useable everyday. It's the only appropriate use of the ultra-high water use planting like rye and bluegrass, and then only if you either don't want or can't afford low water use turf like blue gramma or buffalograss.

I see golf courses as the ultimate expression of wastefulness and selfishness here in the drought-stricken SW desert states. The amount of water used by even a small golf course is staggering, and its ALL irreplacible aquifer water to boot. How can you possible justify planting and maintaining (often at public expense) thousands of acres of water-hogging turf for the sole use of a handfull of golfers a day? How often do you see a golf course used for kids soccer games, or a pickup game of touch football, or flying kites, or walking dogs, or anything except golf? Almost never, and its on purpose. The "elite" fraternity of golfers don't want anyone else out there, it's hard on the grass. Yes, there are occasional exceptions like the UNM north course, but its only grudgingly allowed, and never at the expense of the golfers convienance. The fact that golf is a favorite sport of the rich, powerfull and politically well-connected means that we're heading for an ugly showdown at some point in the future concerning the fate of all that useless grass. I can see a future where soaring population growth and declining water supplies are going to make desert golf courses a symbol of the bad old days, of inappropriate use and profligrate waste.

They say you never appreciate what you have until its gone, and I'd say that goes double for drinkable water. We're really going to miss all that pure, sweet aquifer water long after we've pissed it away irrigating golf courses. Is it hypocritical for me to say that I'm keeping the lawn in my backyard come hell or high water?...of course. But as long as we're paying tax money to water golf course, it'll be just a tiny little drop in the bucket.

[mortimer]

rotorhead eloquently ranted in 469 words:

> It's not about being mean ... [ stuff
> deleted ] ... drop in the bucket.

Um ... er, I was kidding?

You *wanted* to say that anyway though, huh?

I read once that Albuquerque used some 450 million gallons of
water per day back in the late 90's. The system leaked some
10 million gallons of that water.

To put that in perspective, that would fill 28,000 large backyard
swimming pools (the 450M) - that's about once every three
seconds. -- dawgies!