PineMark Blog

Could you do without a front lawn?

Most Californians are aware that we’re currently going through a drought and have been for years.  The state government encourages us to save water as much as possible, from asking people to turn off the faucet while they brush their teeth to restricting washing your own car in some cities.

So when an LA Times article about a couple being sued by the city of Orange for trying to save water came across my Twitter application, I had to read it.

According to the article, Quan and Angelina Ha from Orange County took out their front lawn in an effort to save water and money.  And they did, having “reduced their water usage from 299,221 gallons in 2007 to 58,348 gallons in 2009”.   They also did not want to use pesticides and explained that having recently had a child made them more aware of the state and future of the world.  So why sue them?  This is a great thing, I think.  If you don’t think you need a front lawn, then why have one?

Well, it turns out that city law requires that at least 40% of a home’s lawn must be landscaped.  Fine, they put down woodchips to cover the dirt.  But the city didn’t think that counts as landscaping so they filed the complaint.  The couple since has added a fence and some drought-resistant plants, and I think it looks fine.  After failing to file the paperwork that states how they’ll address the issue, they were charged with a misdemeanor and are facing up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.  For trying to save water.

Personally, I think this is completely ridiculous and a waste of State resources.  The law in place is outdated and there for purely aesthetic reasons, and it does not take into account how environmentally detrimental it is to require each home in Orange to have a lawn.  I’m not saying that everyone should rip out his or her front lawns, but I think that you should be able to if you want to, especially for such a great reason as to help the environment.  And the picture on the article shows that it isn’t an eyesore.  The amount of water they’ve saved is amazing; doing the math, they’ve reduced their water usage by about 80% in two years.  That’s a huge difference.

I don’t think we can afford to have such laws in place.  It’s 2010, and we’re still not where we should be when it comes to solving the big environment problem.  We really need to start changing the way we think about the world.  Like I’ve said before, it’s everyone’s responsibility to do their part, and it’s just such a shame that the Has are being punished for trying to do just that.

- Tiffany