Utahns Overwatering Lawns

Some Utahns are substantially overwatering their lawns – giving them three times more water than an average rain forest, according to a Utah State University study.

“There’s an emphasis on wanting to make the desert bloom,” said Roger Kjelgren, a US horticulture professor who helped with the five-year study of residential and business water use in Layton, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “If they’re putting on a couple hundred inches of water, they could grow rice on that.”

Cities along the Wasatch Front get about 15 inches of rain a year, and Kjelgren says lawns require about twice that amount. Using a combination of raw data and aerial infrared photos, Kjelgren and his colleagues Christopher Neale and Joanna Endter-Wada were able to compile it all into maps that pinpoint how much water is being used on every lawn in the city.

“We found that 80 percent of businesses are watering more than they needed,” Kjelgren said, adding that retail businesses were among the highest consumers.
The study has also found that more affluent neighborhoods use more water, with some Salt Lake area hillside homes using as much as 200 inches.

Researchers also discovered that bigger lawns are less likely to be overwatered. This is especially true at churches, schools and city parks. Kjelgren said.

The upside to the situation, he says, is that 70 percent of water users actually decreased lawn watering since Utah began the “Slow the Flow” campaign two years ago. But for businesses, the average decrease was from 100 to 80 inches – still more than double what is needed.

Source: Deseret Morning News