> “Plastic sprinklers would change everything. Millions of little widgets like his would end up in gardens and public parks…” but mostly in landfill.
veganblue
I read this whole article this morning. Doing everything we can to reduce water consumption by choosing appropriate plants, mulching and accepting seasonality. Yes the back lawn is getting crispy, but will still hold the soil and green up in Autumn again.
Infrequent slow deep watering to get roots away from the surface. Shade the soil with annuals that don’t need water and dry off.
(Currently have a forest of yellowed off parsley creating shade for other plants and the soil).
Smarter plant choices are nice but having to factor in rabbit palatability is somewhat limiting.
SoggyInsurance
And yet no mention of the enormous amount of water that data centre billionaires are demanding we provide them. Fuck that! Gardens are alive, contribute to biodiversity, amenity and human health.
We should prioritise using water for living things.
WarpStryke
I think backyard pools are much more of an issue than backyard sprinklers. At least sprinklers are servicing the garden and environment.
23DeAbril
Shouldn’t be watering a lawn. Watering plants (properly) is fine.
TinyBreak
I commented on something recently saying I was experimenting with grey water on a patch or 2 of lawn. People seemed stunned, but I mean it’s free water that’s otherwise going to waste. I mean it’s not free, I already paid for it. But if all you’re doing is keeping the grass green why not?
A standard mixed load produces around 50l of water. Left over water from the kids bath is about the same.
A bucket from Bunnings is what, 8 bucks? The trick is don’t try lift 20l of water in one go or you’ll spend on the physio 10x what you’d spend on water.
blahblahsnap
Flood irrigate cotton is a ok. Once again shifting blame! I’m doing all I can captain. Ev, solar, water tanks, solar hot water! Now they want my grass and trees to die!
CryHavocAU
Given that we produce so much solar during daylight hours that energy at these times is free, seems like there’s worse uses than for it to power desalination to produce water…
GJtn777
We don’t have enough water supply yet the Gov is intent on increasing our population at an unsustainable rate.
The article fails to mention the Government’s contribution to the problem.
mathachan34
The whole point is watering the lawn which does not give much to the biodiversity in Australia. Using that water for native plants or plants that actually help the environment would be better. I think that is the point of the article. Check this out https://youtu.be/cXsqUXYocLg?si=ntHQ9vu-n4DfW7WO
Cpt_Soban
I live in a bushfire risk area, I’ll continue to run sprinklers on timers at night to keep lawns green around my house as a fire break.
Inevitable_Exam_2177
I think it’s super important that we think about things like this — and I found this article really interesting because I didn’t realise how modern these things were, and I always thought it was weird how my wife (from Perth originally) calls the sprinkler setup “reticulation”.
However, I am always skeptical about ideas like this (“like unplug your chargers when not in use to save power”) when we don’t know what the ratio is use is between residential, commercial, and industry. If residential water use is, say, 10% of the total, “we” are not the users that should be scrimping and saving.
Given that I use sprinklers all summer round, and yet my connection and sewer charges total about half my water bill, I think the economics need to be adjusted to disincentivise high levels of water use.
Any_Possibility_4023
Fuck the corporates.
And fuck almonds!!!!
Select_Repeat_1609
Shouldn’t the author disclose that his wife is director of Solutions for Climate, an entity funded by a group of 160+ private organisations, that lobbies governments?
Y’know, given the author works for a government funded organisation.
14 Comments
> “Plastic sprinklers would change everything. Millions of little widgets like his would end up in gardens and public parks…” but mostly in landfill.
I read this whole article this morning. Doing everything we can to reduce water consumption by choosing appropriate plants, mulching and accepting seasonality. Yes the back lawn is getting crispy, but will still hold the soil and green up in Autumn again.
Infrequent slow deep watering to get roots away from the surface. Shade the soil with annuals that don’t need water and dry off.
(Currently have a forest of yellowed off parsley creating shade for other plants and the soil).
Smarter plant choices are nice but having to factor in rabbit palatability is somewhat limiting.
And yet no mention of the enormous amount of water that data centre billionaires are demanding we provide them. Fuck that! Gardens are alive, contribute to biodiversity, amenity and human health.
We should prioritise using water for living things.
I think backyard pools are much more of an issue than backyard sprinklers. At least sprinklers are servicing the garden and environment.
Shouldn’t be watering a lawn. Watering plants (properly) is fine.
I commented on something recently saying I was experimenting with grey water on a patch or 2 of lawn. People seemed stunned, but I mean it’s free water that’s otherwise going to waste. I mean it’s not free, I already paid for it. But if all you’re doing is keeping the grass green why not?
A standard mixed load produces around 50l of water. Left over water from the kids bath is about the same.
A bucket from Bunnings is what, 8 bucks? The trick is don’t try lift 20l of water in one go or you’ll spend on the physio 10x what you’d spend on water.
Flood irrigate cotton is a ok. Once again shifting blame! I’m doing all I can captain. Ev, solar, water tanks, solar hot water! Now they want my grass and trees to die!
Given that we produce so much solar during daylight hours that energy at these times is free, seems like there’s worse uses than for it to power desalination to produce water…
We don’t have enough water supply yet the Gov is intent on increasing our population at an unsustainable rate.
The article fails to mention the Government’s contribution to the problem.
The whole point is watering the lawn which does not give much to the biodiversity in Australia. Using that water for native plants or plants that actually help the environment would be better. I think that is the point of the article. Check this out https://youtu.be/cXsqUXYocLg?si=ntHQ9vu-n4DfW7WO
I live in a bushfire risk area, I’ll continue to run sprinklers on timers at night to keep lawns green around my house as a fire break.
I think it’s super important that we think about things like this — and I found this article really interesting because I didn’t realise how modern these things were, and I always thought it was weird how my wife (from Perth originally) calls the sprinkler setup “reticulation”.
However, I am always skeptical about ideas like this (“like unplug your chargers when not in use to save power”) when we don’t know what the ratio is use is between residential, commercial, and industry. If residential water use is, say, 10% of the total, “we” are not the users that should be scrimping and saving.
Given that I use sprinklers all summer round, and yet my connection and sewer charges total about half my water bill, I think the economics need to be adjusted to disincentivise high levels of water use.
Fuck the corporates.
And fuck almonds!!!!
Shouldn’t the author disclose that his wife is director of Solutions for Climate, an entity funded by a group of 160+ private organisations, that lobbies governments?
Y’know, given the author works for a government funded organisation.