Fitness Files: Is the drought talk all wet?

Ever read something that turned your opinions right around, 180 degrees?

In a former column, I described killing our front lawn and replacing it with drought-tolerant plants and drip irrigation. Had a private laugh when the new “drought-tolerant” plants needed more water to become established than my good old shrubs had required.

Still, “brown is the new green” signs irritated me. Was it really necessary to dry out mature plants and grasses that beautified our neighborhoods?

So it was with particular interest that I read a commentary in the Los Angeles Times a couple weeks ago that put the lie to the signs as well as to the limits on watering days.

The writers, Donald R. Hodel and Dennis R. Pittenger, veteran specialists in landscape and irrigation at the University of California Cooperative Extension, discuss the fallacy of mandating that our investment in greenery wither as a salvo for the drought.

Their message blends health news with landscaping information. The writers point to a Canadian study this year that argues that having 10 more trees on a city block improves the feeling of wellness in ways comparable to an increase in annual personal income of $10,000 or being seven years younger.

And about residents’ water-saving effect on California’s drought, pish posh: Urban landscape irrigation accounts for such a small part of water used, they write, less than 9%. Lawns, regularly blamed as the big villain, use only 3% to 5%, the piece says.

In fact, UC research over 30 years shows that proper water management can save 30% of water use without mandating watering days, pulling out landscaping or allowing city trees to die, Hodel and Pittenger go on to say.

We all know that foliage provides beauty, shade, energy savings, wildlife habitat, oxygen, erosion control, enhanced property values and mitigation of global warming. But the knee-jerk reaction to eradicate well-established lawns and shrubs, replacing them with drought-tolerant ornamentals or worse, rocks and artificial turf, has serious environmental drawbacks, the writers say.

With less landscaping, it’s hotter around our houses, our environment is deprived of the carbon dioxide/oxygen exchange, dust pervades. Artificial turf, if selected to replace greenery, is a heat-producing plastic petroleum product with a shelf life.

Hodel and Pittenger are having none of the two-day-a-week, 15-minute watering schedule imposed on us, with threats of fines for cheating. Horticulturally unsound is what they say, citing the withering, weakening and eventual death of trees and shrubs.

Calling the state’s water policy shortsighted, tragic, foolish and poorly crafted, they point to the real culprit. “Official but unacknowledged state policy for the last decade has been to support water demand for future growth” primarily by trying “to wring out savings through urban landscape water conservation.”

California is expected to add 10 million people by 2025. Yet with urban landscape irrigation accounting for such a small portion of water use, they argue, “any sixth grader can do the math.” As with many of the world’s problems, the root cause is overpopulation and, in California’s case, overdevelopment.

Inflammatory statements, but Hodel and Pittenger don’t stop there. They claim that the strategy of state policymakers is to inconvenience homeowners to the point where they will be willing to support controversial state water projects.

Darn, I hate to kill plants and be manipulated on top of it. We homeowners are easy pickins for phony drought measures, say the authors, because we have “no unified voice with abundant resources” to advocate for us.

I’m calling for a coalition of, for example, the League of California Cities, California Organization of Realtors and the California Center for Public Health Advocacy to join and stand up for the plants and the people who water them. I’m calling for our cities to ask Hodel and Pittenger exactly how we can save 30% of water used and still keep our green spaces alive, green and contributing to the pleasure of living along the Southern California coast.

No, I’m not putting my lawn back in, but I love the shade of our old trees and I’ve noticed that even drought-tolerant plants look a lot better when irrigated.