Readers React: Your lawn is a bigger water waster than a man-made lake

To the editor: The Times missed an opportunity to make an important point. Although attention grabbing, lakes and swimming pools in fact use no more water to maintain, once initially filled, than golf courses; per square foot, they actually use less water than “green all year” lawns. (“Lake Mission Viejo isn’t feeling California drought — yet,” Oct. 30)

Lawns clearly win the water waste contest. An in-depth explanation of this can be found in “A Guide to Estimating Irrigation Water Needs of Landscape Plantings in California,” published by the state and the University of California and found easily online.

At 124 surface acres, Lake Mission Viejo is no larger than the average 18-hole golf course. And while both provide recreation and aesthetic benefit, the lake also provides wildlife habitat and other indirect benefits that add to its value. It is short-sighted and simplistic to vilify ponds, lakes and swimming pools just because they appear to be extravagant water wasters. We should stay focused on lawns and golf courses.

Two wrongs may not make a right, but let’s focus on the wronger wrong first.

Wayne Romanek, Los Angeles

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To the editor: There is a simple solution to the problem of private homeowners associations that have lakes: The members should be required to reduce their personal water usage to make up for the water loss due to evaporation from the lakes.

If the 3,000 members of the Lake Mission Viejo Assn. can reduce their water usage by more than 88 million gallons of water each year, it would compensate for the water lost from the lake and be less of a burden to other communities that are stressed by water shortages. Ultimately it would allow the association members to prioritize how they allocate their water, be it for the lake or home use.

Alan Coles, Long Beach

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