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Meet Arizona's Water One-Percenters

4/8/2021

 
In Phoenix, two cities are emerging: one is water-rich, the other water-poor  Every two weeks, Dawn Upton floods her lawn. She treks into her back yard, twists open two valves big as dinner plates, and within minutes is ankle-deep in water.  “You have to have irrigation boots, girl,” she says during a video tour of her property in Mesa, a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona. She flips her camera to reveal green grass, then tilts her phone skyward at four towering palm trees. As she walks, she pans across pecan, pomegranate, and citrus trees – lemon, orange, a grapefruit sapling. A tortoise, between 80 and 100lb, lumbers toward her, chewing. “There’s Simba,” Upton says. “Hey buddy! What is that, Simba? You can’t eat it.” She pats him affectionately on the head. - Guardian
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Katelyn Cashman
4/25/2021 10:04:24 am

I'm from the Midwest and was amazed at how many people I've encountered here in the Valley that don't seem concerned with water use. The amount of green grass is very concerning to me. I'm happy to see things like SRP offering better deals to people who convert to desert landscaping, "peak-use" hours, etc., but I think non-native grasses and irrigation like this should be severely regulated/illegal.

That may seem "extreme," but my dislike for monoculture lawns is pretty extreme too. The perfect-green-lawn culture encourages the use of pesticides and herbicides with homeowners trying to obtain this "perfect lawn" with practically no benefit - and large detriment - to the environment. When did a plain green lawn become more ideal than islands of gardens where birds and critters visit regularly? Why has it happened, and why do people move to the desert just to plant grass that comes up naturally everywhere else in the US?


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