Yuma County grows 90% of the leafy greens the U.S. consumes in the winter. But Arizona relies on water from the Colorado River, which is at record lows.
They’ve implemented a variety of water restrictions regarding lawn watering, pools, ponds, car washing, etc and have dedicated employees for enforcement. A ton of voluntary assistance programs to remove lawns altogether and mandated new housing have no front grass. Those big water fixtures at casinos are heavily regulated to have minimal water loss. Generally just ahead of the curve on what many cities are recently starting to implement to reduce water use and waste.
As far as the city’s water use is concerned, Denver Water estimates lawn irrigation accounts for 50 percent of single-family homes’ total use. Single-family homes use 47 percent of all the city’s water sales, according to a 2011 study. If that’s still true today, lawn watering uses nearly a quarter of every drop Denver Water sells to the city.
And that’s potable water, too. I mean, what are we even doing?
It’s good for cities to do their part, but AFAIK, we need to focus on agriculture - what crops are raised for what, the techniques they use, what we are putting on our plates, etc, since in Colorado that is 90% of the usage, while municipal use is 7%. Yes, it’s rather stupid to use 25% of that municipal water and spray it on a non-native plant for decorative purposes, but we are going to have to rethink what we eat and how we make that food…
Cities are hard-pressed to maintain ONE netowrk of water pipes.
I mean, what are we even doing?
I’d say “barely coping”
Here’s the bare facts: bungalows cost more in infrastructure maintenance than they ever pay in taxes. More frontage means more pipes and wires and conduit.
Think about how much of your area is bungalows, and understand the city is never recouping the cost of keeping that running in those areas, and is thus robbing funds from more dense areas to pay for the suburbs.
Is your city raising property taxes? No? Then it’s not even breaking even now, let alone with a second non-potable water network.
They’ve implemented a variety of water restrictions regarding lawn watering, pools, ponds, car washing, etc and have dedicated employees for enforcement. A ton of voluntary assistance programs to remove lawns altogether and mandated new housing have no front grass. Those big water fixtures at casinos are heavily regulated to have minimal water loss. Generally just ahead of the curve on what many cities are recently starting to implement to reduce water use and waste.
That’s good news. This is data from a few years ago for Denver:
https://denverite.com/2019/05/06/denverites-can-use-120-million-gallons-a-day-to-water-their-lawns/
And that’s potable water, too. I mean, what are we even doing?
It’s good for cities to do their part, but AFAIK, we need to focus on agriculture - what crops are raised for what, the techniques they use, what we are putting on our plates, etc, since in Colorado that is 90% of the usage, while municipal use is 7%. Yes, it’s rather stupid to use 25% of that municipal water and spray it on a non-native plant for decorative purposes, but we are going to have to rethink what we eat and how we make that food…
https://coloradosun.com/2026/03/16/is-most-of-colorados-water-used-for-agriculture/
Cities are hard-pressed to maintain ONE netowrk of water pipes.
I’d say “barely coping”
Here’s the bare facts: bungalows cost more in infrastructure maintenance than they ever pay in taxes. More frontage means more pipes and wires and conduit.
Think about how much of your area is bungalows, and understand the city is never recouping the cost of keeping that running in those areas, and is thus robbing funds from more dense areas to pay for the suburbs.
Is your city raising property taxes? No? Then it’s not even breaking even now, let alone with a second non-potable water network.