4 ms·
I haven't been to Phoenix in twenty years, but it's hard for me—as someone who is not a civil engineer—to grasp how this is the case. I remember walking around
by obelos 5y ago
I haven't been to Phoenix in twenty years, but it's hard for me—as someone who is not a civil engineer—to grasp how this is the case. I remember walking around there in the summer and being shocked to see a higher concentration of lush green lawns there than in Ohio where I lived at the time. Homeowners had spigots poking out of the corner of their yard, which they'd turn on to literally flood their yard. Flying into the airport you could see the profusion of green lawns, private backyard swimming pools, and expansive golf courses. Is there a good resource where I can see how that opulent water use squares with having a 100+ year native supply and is actually a net water contributor?
- etc-hosts 5y agoI always wondered how Phoenix homeowners get away with watering their lawns just by flooding them.
- lotsofpulp 5y agoWater prices so cheap that they do not reflect externalities, such as water supply per capita being lower in the future.
- ridgeguy 5y agoI attended high school in Phoenix in the late 1960s. There was a widespread irrigation infrastructure that consisted of gated ditches running throughout residential areas. This was way before drip irrigation or other water conservation measures were a thing. These ditches were supplied with water on a scheduled basis. One watered one's lawn by shutting off your downstream neighbor's ditch gate and opening yours on schedule. After your hour or two of flooding, your upstream neighbor would do the same, leaving your deeply flooded yard to absorb the water. This was a 2 or 3 times/week thing. It was horribly inefficient in terms of evaporation losses. About the only positive aspect I recall is socializing with our neighbors in the after-midnight hours that we usually drew for our turn at the floodgates.