Is it bad for the earth to use sprinkers to water your grass?

Answer 1

It is not bad to water your grass once in a while, and in a non-wasteful way. However, I have seen a lot of wasting of water around where I live. I have seen that on cloudy days, people leave their sprinklers on for hours, if not the whole day. If the day is cloudy, chances are it might rain, and you will not have to water your grass afterall, so why do people leave the water on?? It truly angers me when my neighbors leave the sprinkler on the whole day! That is highly irresponsible because water is scant belive it or not. Even though Earth is covered by 97.2% water, less than one percent is drinkable (we use the water we drink to water our grass)! Water is highly innexpensive and that is why it is taken for granted and wasted. I support an increase in the price of water, because as is occuring with gasoline, the only way that people become concious about conserving resources, is when they are scarce or expensive. I repeat, that I belive watering lawns is fine, but watering them in an environmentally concious way, where you dont leave the sprinkler on for hours and you dont water it on rainy days. There are sophisticated methods of watering utilized by some agriculturers that directly deliver the water to the crops and thus decrease waste of water by a high percentage.

Answer 2

Using water un-necessarily deprives some other part of the eco-system of that water.
If the lawn is treated with agrochemicals, nitrates etc, then these will be washed out too. Pumping, cleaning and filtering your tap water also consumes a lot of energy.
Over irrigation is causing the loss of large areas of arable land each year. Useable water is predicted at a conference in Norway last year, to run out before oil.

What is your grass for? is it just a fashion to look like an old english country house/cover of a magazine?.
Wasting water and energy on a lawn is a way some people choose to flaunt their excess money, especially if in a climate like arizona where grass does not naturally grow.

Better alternatives are to plant perenial/long lasting plants, shrubs & trees suitable to your climate.
With the right choice you can deter burgalars, encourage wildlife (a manicured lawn is a lifeless desert), provide changing shape and colour through the year, even provide fruit, fuel, herbs etc

So not only is using a sprinkler bad for the soil and the local eco-sytem it costs you time and money too.

Answer 3

A healthy well-watered lawn absorbs carbon dioxide and produces free oxygen. That's good. In many locations rain falls within a natural drainage basin, collects in lakes and streams and returns to the sea. Usually only a small amount of this total flow is needed to support a community (including watering lawns when there is no drought). Water should be conserved to minimize energy use and to avoid lowering the water table. Special attention must be paid to karst formations that supply water since they are easier to polute than sandy aquifers.

Answer 4

It depends. Some aquifers are drying up due to over use. Some of the Great Plains area is expected to dry up in 25 years. Sprinklers are a bad choice of watering tools. Instead use a soaker hose which is easy found in lowes hardware. They save around fifty percent in water usage.

Answer 5

Sprinklers use a lot more water than manually watering grass with a hose since fresh, drinkable water is a very scarce commodty in many parts of the world. so yes very much so

Answer 6

Water doesn't hurt your lawn. It falls from the sky sometimes.
I only use Poland spring water on my lawn. I also use it to shower and flush my toilet.
They are right next door and are pumping out all my water. They fill a 30'000 gallon truck every 20 minutes all day long six days a week.
I'll let you in on a secret. It's not really spring water. It's just ground water but It's really tasty water compared to the town's water system.

Answer 7

It's not bad for the Earth overall, since the water just gets recycled. However, if you live in an area where fresh water is becoming scarce (Florida, the SW US), then you are contributing to the problem.

Answer 8

Yes, in the sense that using sprinklers to water your lawn uses much water than needed. Water is a scarce resource. In fact, 2 billion people are dying for it. To be earth-friendly, its better to collect rain water to water the grass.

Answer 9

Water is a scarce natural resource. Lawns are good, but it depends on if the water used on them could be used elsewhere. If your community is short of water, the decorative lawns should be replaced by other forms of plant-life that use less water. If your community has lots of water, then enjoy your lawn!
;-D

Answer 10

Yes, you should only pour small amounts of water on to your lawn daily. It may take longer. But definitely better for mother earth.