Keeping our lawns green and gardens lush is the main source for outdoor water use in the summertime. In dry areas, up to 60% of a household’s water can be used for outdoor activities alone. The EPA estimates that nine billion gallons of water are used daily for landscape irrigation nationwide, and more than 50% of this water is wasted through evaporation or runoff.
Lawns have existed for centuries, inspired by naturally occurring grasslands and prairies. In the 1700s, manicured lawns’ popularity rose in western Europe, serving as a status symbol for wealthy landowners. Today, while traditional lawns remain valued, we must also confront the ecological harm and wastefulness maintaining large monoculture turf grasses can bring.
So what are the alternatives? How can we care for our landscape without wasting large amounts of water?
1. The beauty of dormancy
Grass turning gold or yellow in the summer is a normal physiological process. Choosing to let your grass go dormant rather than forcing growth during hot summer months with supplemental watering is a splendid way to reduce outdoor water use. The grass will come back green later in the fall once the rain returns. Think of grasses like changing leaves, each season brings in new colors.
2. Less lawn, more mulch
A popular alternative is removing lawns entirely. Cover dormant grass with landscape cloth or cardboard and mulch thickly with a natural material. An all-mulch yard requires no watering or mowing. Instead, you could plant native, drought-tolerant vegetation that thrives without irrigation.
Check out the Clallam Conservation District for information about native plant sales and advice on which drought-tolerant species could be a good fit for your yard.
3. A ryegrass alternative: fescues
If a monoculture lawn must remain, tall fescues (Festuca arundinacea) may be an appropriate alternative to the perennial ryegrass grown in most yards across western Washington.
Fescues are slightly coarser in texture than ryegrass but sometimes can maintain their darker green color during summer months even without irrigation due to their ability to pull water from deeper soil depths.
4. Ecoturfs
A low-maintenance alternative to conventional monoculture lawns are ecoturfs. Ecoturf (or eco-lawns) are usually a blend of short-growing, ground cover mix which include drought-tolerant grasses, clovers, wildflowers and herbs that thrive year-round. Ecoturf mixes are a great alternative to conventional lawns because they need significantly less water, mowing is optional, and they require little to no fertilizer. Clovers are nitrogen fixers, stay green throughout the summer and attract pollinators.
Like a conventional grass lawn, planting should happen in early spring or fall, and seed establishment will require regular watering. However, once established, water requirements are estimated to be at least a third less than a grass lawn.
Our drought persists
Even with the much needed (and exciting!) rains last week, the drought is still here. Both the Dungeness and Elwha Rivers are experiencing lower flows than normal, and Clallam PUD has declared Stage 2 and 3 drought responses for several water districts west of Sequim.
While our water entities across the county collaborate on how to reduce water use, support fish migration, and irrigate fields: we residents can act too. And what better place to start than with the grass growing in our own backyard?
Check out our webpage (extension.wsu.edu/clallam/water-conservation) for more outdoor water saving tips, resources about the drought, information about local water management efforts, water conservation events and more.
Already reducing your water use? Send us an email to share your water conservation tips and potentially be featured in a future issue!
Sammi Grieger is the Water Conservation Coordinator at the WSU Clallam County Extension Office in Port Angeles. Contact her at samantha.grieger@wsu.edu.
