Southern Arizona is a desert. Not some plithy sandbox at the bottom of the garden, but a stonking, great, big Sonoran Desert covering a whopping 120,000 square miles of dubiously shaped cacti. This is where we live and, being a desert 'n' all, it tends to get quite hot and dry until the rainy season comes. 'Rainy' being a coy substitute for 'sprinkler.'
Tiffany Morris, a computational biosciences graduate student at ASU and former rainforest manager of the Biosphere 2, hit the nail right on the head for those of us who still haven't worked out the problem; "Arizona has huge water issues, but new development projects continue, such as houses and golf courses." More houses mean more flushing toilets, running showers and drinking water for those of us who deplore a nomadic existence. It also means tufts of grass start popping up where you least expect it, and the already acute water shortages are heightened by attempts to make the sandy garden look like the billowing fields of the Midwest.
A short walk around campus will easily demonstrate that we are clueless and irresponsible with our sprinkler systems. Our tendency to over-water around the clock, regardless of weather, merely generates cavernous lakes and disgruntled birds. It doesn't generate lush greenery. Morris explained that the over-watering is exacerbated by the layout of the lawns; "Beauty rather than ecology is the focus during most landscape design," she said. "If people want to plant non-native grasses, then at least sprinklers should be placed to water the grass not the road."
So if you are a fan of the manicured lawn then you had better learn some sprinkler responsibility. The City of Tempe Water Conservation Program has bundles of leaflets with do's and don'ts, but seeing as most of you have "other things to worry about," I shall elucidate for you. Only water every third day and make sure it isn't during peak evaporation times of 4 to 9 p.m. If you use an automatic sprinkler, make sure it is set to the specific needs of your lawn and doesn't spray the sidewalk or unsuspecting pedestrians, like myself. Stop planting non-native plants that consume larger amounts of water than the desert-wise cacti, and try to incorporate natural precipitation into the equation when it does occur.
If you live in an apartment complex, I'm assuming your eyes have started wandering to more exciting articles on this page. Just because you don't have responsibility for a lawn, doesn't mean you are entirely blameless. If you wash your car, brush your teeth and use the toilet then you had better buck up your ideas too. Water conservation can be an everyday event if you care enough about the environment, and because you've intruded onto this sprawling desert then shame on you if you don't. So do the sensible thing -- alert someone if his sprinkler is going mental, or if you spot a burst pipe -- and put a stop on the amount of water you waste on a daily basis.
I'm not asking you to go without showers and bury your toilet misdemeanors ... then again, maybe people would stop moving here if that were the case, and we might have a glimmering hope of getting through this drought. Consider me on the case; it's not pretty, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.
Katie McCrory is a history junior. Reach her at kathleen-ellen.mccrory@asu.edu.
