The California Drought

FACTS WE ALL SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE DROUGHT

2017 Update: Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you are well aware that California was suffering from a 5-year drought.

Fortunately for us Californians, the situation has much improved with a very wet December & January. As of January 10th, 41.78% of California is out of the official drought category, namely Northern California. To date, Southern California is still under "drought conditions."

The statewide snowpack is 161 percent of normal levels for the date and nearly three-quarters of the way to the average for all of the winter season. That abundant snowpack is a stark contrast to the measly 6 percent of normal levels at the end of winter in 2015 — likely the smallest snowpack in 500 years.

The mountain snowpack is crucial for the state because it supplies roughly 30 percent of its water, topping up reservoirs as it slowly melts during the dry spring and summer.

There are, of course, still major deficits in groundwater levels that could take decades to replace and lingering ecological impacts, several experts said, but they agreed the situation had much improved.

But us Californians have an ongoing responsibility. Even if the California Drought ends, good water habits must not. We must understand that less rain is the new norm. Water efficient products, reduction in use, and eliminating wasteful use, is a must.

The average American household uses 320 gallons of water per day, about 30 percent of which is devoted to outdoor uses. More than half of that outdoor water is used for watering lawns and gardens. Nationwide, landscape irrigation is estimated to account for nearly one-third of all residential water use, totaling nearly 9 billion gallons per day.

Another way to explain water waste...
The average homeowner in Southern California can save up to $2,000 per year on their water and landscaping bills by switching to an Artificial Turf lawn! The average grass sod lawn can use as much as 20,000 gallons of water per year! In contrast, the average person drinks only 15,000 gallons of water in his/her lifetime!

IS ARTIFICIAL GRASS ECO-FRIENDLY?

You’ve heard all the hype about Artificial Grass from you’ll save water and money, to artificial grass being eco-friendly. But how exactly is this synthetic turf eco-friendly?

Three very important key words: fertilizers, mowing and watering are what specifically make artificial lawns very eco-friendly.

The average American lawn gulps down a whopping 20,000 gallons of water per year. Lawns that are planted atop sandy soil can be particularly wasteful since they drain more quickly.

Smog-forming emissions from an hour’s worth of gas-powered mowing is equivalent to driving a car 93 miles.

American owns use about 3 million metric tons of synthetic lawn fertilizer every year. The fossil fuel equivalent of a barrel of oil goes into manufacturing 560 pounds of such fertilizer, so our collective lawn habit is costing us more than 11.8 million barrels of oil annually.

We also use 70 million pounds of pesticides and herbicides on our lawns every year.

Grass clippings that are improperly disposed of can end up polluting major waterways.

So not only would you be eco-friendly by switching that natural grass out for an artificial lawn, but you’ll save water, time and money. Free up those weekends and use that money you save to take the wife and kids out to the movies! Try our Sod vs Turf Calculator to see how much money you'll save by switching today!