Water

As I write this, it's a sunny & hot afternoon. There is rain in the forecast for tomorrow night and high probability that we'll see a reasonable amount of rain this week.

My neighbors are watering their lawn.

Wasteful.

For several reasons.
1) Watering in bright sunlight wastes water and risks injuring the lawn.
2) Using well-water to water a lawn or garden is using a very valuable limited resource when rainwater is available.
3) Sprinkler systems are incredibly inefficient, much of the water evaporates.
4) Lots of shallow waterings tend to increase root mass near the surface--fewer deep waterings encourage the roots to follow the water deeper--making the plants more resistant to short-term water shortages.

Very short grass (most grasses are recommended to be maintained at 4"-6") does not provide any shade for the ground, increasing evaporation of the water near the surface--drying out everything much faster.

We are very lucky to have the well-water we have in Menomonie--our water is sweet and lacks any strong mineral flavor, nitrates or pesticides--not to mention much worse things some local water contains elsewhere.

Our water isn't unlimited. It has very definite limits to how much may be pulled from the aquifer...limits based upon soil area and permeability as well as precipitation. Expanding roadways, housing, pavement, converting woods to lawns all reduce permeability and increase evaporation.

Good potable water is currently inexpensive in Menomonie, but it is a limited resource, we can use it too rapidly and it can be depleted.

It will be expensive as it becomes scarce; the time to conserve resources is before you begin to run out.

Unless you are anxious to begin using Lake Menomin as a drinking water source....