by Michael Clark

Few things seem so natural and benign as a fresh, green lawn, but in fact, the environmental cost of all that brightness is ridiculously high. Here in Rhode Island, upwards of 80,000 gallons of water go to irrigate just one average quarter-acre lawn just for one season. In one North Kingstown subdivision, where special meters were installed, it was discovered that 95 homes used 5.7 million gallons for outside use during last summer, mainly for lawn watering. That was 78 percent of the total water used.

So, you might wonder, does it matter? Don't we have plenty of water? No, not really. In NK, for example, the main water source is the stressed Hunt River, which virtually ran dry in 2005. Across the state, water use doubles and even triples in the summertime, mainly due to lawn irrigation. The result -- stream flows slow down as water levels fall, damaging aquatic habitats. The economy suffers as new industries find the water systems inadequate for their needs. Demands on infrastructure increase, costing huge amounts of money to increase the supply. Aquatic habitats are further degraded as all that water carries excess fertilizers and chemicals from our lawns and pavements into our lakes and streams and coastal waters.

So what can be done about it? Plenty! and it's not hard. It could even be fun. Click on "More..." for the rest of the story.