Green Industry ECOnomics - LandcareNetwork.org

Chapter 12:
Water’s Place in Sustainability
In spite of sophisticated irrigation equipment that can literally read the
weather and tell a system just how much water to dispense to landscapes,
water is still wasted on landscapes. Despite state-of-the art valves, sprinklers,
drip systems, and innovations such as two-wire systems, billions of gallons
of potable water sprayed or sprinkled onto lawns runs off properties and
eventually, into streams, ponds, and lakes, taking pesticides, fertilizers, and
other unwanted chemicals with it. The U.S. EPA estimates that more than 50
percent of all landscape water is wasted.
The problem is not with technology; it’s with a lack of knowledge and care
in designing and installing irrigation systems correctly and maintaining them
regularly. “All that smart equipment is only as smart as the people who
install and maintain it,” said Lynda Wightman, Hunter Industries. “Yes,
you’re in a highly competitive business and you’re judged on the appearance
of the properties you provide your customers. Every day you are judged on
that appearance.”
Indeed, no discussion about sustainability in the green industry is complete
with out focusing on landscape irrigation. Wightman and Bennett spoke
up strongly for responsible water use and water conservation within the
Committee.
Being a water conservation officer for Las Vegas and surrounding communities
in the Mojave Desert, it is little wonder that Bennett cast such a critical
eye on water waste during the meeting. His jurisdiction, after all, gets an
average of just over four inches of precipitation annually.
Most of the U.S. Southwest gets its water from a single source, the Colorado
River. The entire region faces the very real possibility of catastrophic water
shortages within the next generation, and two big factors loom on the horizon
in the region’s future: continued robust development, including a projected
doubling of the region’s population by 2030; and lower snow melts in
the mountains because of climate change. This, of course, means less available
water downstream.
As Bennett pointed out to the Committee, the more than 70-year-old agreement
apportioning the waters of the Colorado River was reached during a
period of wet weather and unusually robust river flows. Officials making
those decisions (after much protracted wrangling, which continues to this
day) did not have long-term data suggesting otherwise.
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