Letters: Lawns are sucking California dry

A canal of the Central Valley's Westland Water District carries water to Southern California. The water district has become one of the loudest proponents and top financiers for a controversial twin tunnel project that would provide a new avenue for shipping water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta south.

Dec. 18, 2013 12 AM PT

Re “Hard truths about water,” Editorial, Dec. 15

In Los Angeles, up to 70% of water usage goes toward outdoor landscaping such as lawns. Reclaimed water is increasingly used, but it’s still a drop in the bucket.

Rebates are being paid for removing grass lawns and replacing them with low-water-usage or no-water alternatives. Grass lawns should be outlawed in new communities, and the rebate program should be massively expanded in established communities.

The L.A. Department of Water and Power and other groups support expansion of “purple pipe” programs, which bring reclaimed water to communities. Some golf courses have purple pipes for their grass. Cal State Northridge, where I am a professor, is exploring this possibility to help irrigate the university’s massive lawns.

This is a major solution to the water problems in Southern California.

Steven B. Oppenheimer

Northridge

Life is full of choices, some harder than others.

A central fallacy of our time is the baby-boomer initiated notion that we should identify, protect and restore various “endangered species,” even though almost all of the species that have ever existed are extinct. (Yes, I am aware of the wolves, condors, bears and others that have been “saved” by us.)

Only modern hubris attempts to equate non-human species with our needs, which must take priority in emergencies — such as water in California.

I know I’ll be labeled a Neanderthal for this letter, but again, some choices are harder than others.

Ken Artingstall

Glendale

Your editorial covered some salient facts about the use of water in California. Unmentioned, however, was the proverbial elephant in the room: the continued building up of Southern California.

Case in point: Look at the proposed 21,000-unit Newhall Ranch project. This is emblematic of the whole of Southern California, which operates under that idea that if you build it, water will flow.

Not asked by the officials who approved these developments is where the water is coming from. This should be a fundamental question now whenever builders submit plans.

Karen Weston

Palmdale

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