Growing trees and water shortage?

Question

Has any one wondered whether we have enough water to sustain trees which we are all constantly asked to grow to help our environment. I always thought that trees need more water and it gets this from the ground.

Trees will compete with other living beings for scarce resource - namely water!! Have environmetallists gone mad?

Answer 1

Trees can prevent run-off and cause the ground to absorb more water.
1. The roots hold the soil together, keeping a good soil layer on top instead of the relatively impervious clay below.
2. Leaves falling from trees add to the humus - the organic matter that acts as a sponge to help absorb and hold water.
3. Trees shade the soil, reducing direct evaporation from the ground. Though trees do lose water to the air through transpiration, that's an important part of the water cycle.

Answer 2

Trees = human survival on this earth

It is probably too late as the major pollution we have done hasn't reach the upper atmosphere (ozone layer) yet so we haven't seen the worst of it by a long shot... our only chance is to plant as much vegetation as we can. Once established trees do not need to be watered and then more vegetation can be planted in the shade that the trees are providing.

desolate parts of the world are being restored using permaculture methods which start with the planting of a few trees.

and yes if we don't have vegetation we as humans will most definitely die ... no oxygen being produced!

where I live is the one part of NSW that isn't drought declared and I believe that is because there is a strong alternative society who do not clear land and in fact are very into reforesting, restoring native vegetation by removing introduced species, etc.

No environmentalist have not gone mad, they have the knowledge needed to make informed comments. Education of our race is clearly what is most needed - concrete does not contribute to any ecosystem.

and Lawns!!! one of my pet 'hates' ... ahhhh what an incredible waste of energy - water, fertilisers, fuel, noise ... I would ban them myself LOL .. unless a native grass or a ground-cover that needs little or no attention.

Answer 3

A good question. But it's a little more complicated--and trees generally don't stress the water supply. In fact they are likely to help it, more often than not. The reason is that trees tend to anchor sooil and hold both soil and water--preventing much of it from simply running off.

The other thing is that trees--with few exceptions--subsist off that water--mostly rainwater that otherwise isn't used by any organism.

Now if you are really concerned about conserving water--here's the single biggest user of water in many Americancities: watering lawns. We have developed a national custom of creating lawns with varieties of grass that can't survive naturally--there are either hybrids or non-native varieties. Now ask yourself--which makes more sense: a native variety of grass and trees that can survive off natural rainfall--or using thousands of gallons of water to maintain a patch of grass that is one step away from being as artificial as astroturf?

Answer 4

its called an eco-system, the natural cycle .if you have a tree then you also have shade from the sun which would have otherwise evaporated any rain.
also the darker colour of trees leaves etc reflect less heat back up than the bare earth.
trees are great and are needed in great numbers right now so plant away and don't worry about any water loss.

Answer 5

Trees only need a lot of water to get established. Then the rain takes care of it if you have planted the right ones for your location. Try putting a barrel under a rain gutter to catch the rain to water your trees.

Answer 6

We have plent ok water in the UK. problem is, it's in the wrong place and there is no infrastructure to transport water around the country to where it is needed.
Of course we need trees. They provide oxygen,stabilise ground and provide food and habitat for countless animals and insects.

Answer 7

We kind of need trees;that darn thing called oxygen.It's a requirement.