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GoodWitch58

Beach Fanatic
Oct 10, 2005
4,816
1,921
.
I can't help but think that in the long term this is good.


.

I agree. Quality of life will improve; and maybe we will expand our revenue base to include more than tourism.
 

TooFarTampa

SoWal Insider
.
I can't help but think that in the long term this is good.


.

Yes yes yes yes yes.

As of next week we residents of Tampa are no longer permitted to use freshwater sprinklers to water our yards. Why? Our reservoir is dry and will remain that way until the drought ends or at least eases. We are pumping groundwater. Sinkholes, anyone?

When it comes to development, we need to slow down and catch our breath in this state. Maybe before the next boom people (and HOAs) will stop their reflexive yearnings for green lawns. Maybe careful development will become the norm. Probably not, but one can hope.
 

GoodWitch58

Beach Fanatic
Oct 10, 2005
4,816
1,921
I agree. and maybe we up here in "the great NWest" will give up our love affair with non-native Palm trees!:eek:
 

scooterbug44

SoWal Expert
May 8, 2007
16,732
3,330
Sowal
I think that the bubble bursting was a good thing in some ways as a major speed check was definitely needed - from a price, quality, and reality standpoint.

IMO the amount of water we waste on irrigating lawns and landscaping is freaking ridiculous. The amount of water I see being used to "water" pavement just in Sowal is crazy. I think that if we made people carry their own water to their lawns and gardens, we'd see a quick return to more intelligent usage.

It's even more ridiculous when people insist upon doing it in drought striken areas or when they have limited water resources. My grandparents never had a "lawn" - they had a yard full of native grasses because it just wasn't done to plant sod and water it in their climate. Grandpa would scythe before the grandkids visited (because Grandma worried about snakes), but that was the extent of any maintenence. With the exception of learning the hard way what thistles were, we never noticed that we were playing in a meadow instead of a lawn.

Decades later my aunt's community actually made it part of their covenants that you had to plant native grasses instead of turf because they didn't want their limited water resources going to "lawn".

Many newer developments throw the conventional wisdom about water usage out the window in favor of green grass and it is rapidly accelerating the Western water wars. In a weird twist some areas are using terrorism as an excuse to further secure their remote water reservoirs (located in places most Americans couldn't find on a map, let alone Al Queda).
 

woodworker

Beach Lover
Jan 26, 2008
156
32
SRB
Hopefully rainwater collection (roof runoff) will catch on eventually in this area. That and solar power. I mean, this is Florida right? :dunno:

Think about how full you're cistern could be today. (Bad day for solar, though :lol:)

Can't imagine watering lawns with drinking water. Just watched the documentary "Flow" the other day. That'll make you a little uncomfortable about our way of life...
 
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