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Comment by SoftTalker | Hacker News Reader

"... warnings to clear dead vegetation and to wet dry brush within 10 feet of the house with periodic, prolonged sprinklings."

I thought watering lawns and plants was banned in much of California, to conserve water?

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Like many things with California, sensible policies that are very effective and will eventually be standard in other states are presented incorrectly for many different (usually financial) reasons in order to turn public opinion against them to delay their spread.

Commercial/industrial properties are not permitted to water grass lawns with drinkable water.

Commercial/industrial properties are not permitted to use drinkable water to water lawns within 48 hours of 1/4" of rainfall.

Commercial/industrial properties are not permitted to use drinkable water to water lawns with so much water that it runs off the lawn into streets or storm drains.

https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/conservation/regs/docs/2023/F...

Landscaping businesses and landscaping supply retailers launched a campaign several years ago framing the above as "watering lawns and plants is going to be banned in much California".

It appears that campaign was partially successful.

Commercial/industrial properties can install water recycling systems and use all of the greywater they can get to water their lawns.

There are additional local restrictions that depend on the severity of the water supply situation but those are too numerous to list, but at worst none of them prevent weekly watering of plants and lawns adjacent to dwellings.

Alfalfa farming uses 40% more water than all lawns in the entire state of California. If every California resident paid $5 per year, they could buy out the entire alfalfa industry and never have to worry about residential or commercial water usage.[1]

California doesn't have a shortage of water. It just allocates water in an extremely inefficient manner.

1. https://slatestarcodex.com/2015/05/11/california-water-you-d...

Ok, but the alfalfa gets eaten. A lawn doesn’t.

I don't really mind agricultural consumption because there has never not been enough water for human consumption.

And agricultural water consumption produces food.

You can't eat a lawn, or a swimming pool, or a long shower.

Well, I suppose you can try to eat anything once but the point stands.

There are very few places as ideally suited to agriculture as California so the water distribution priorities should be:

1. Humans: drinking and cooking

2. Farms

3. Humans: personal hygiene

4. Nothing this far down really matters so I don't care if they get a single drop. yes that includes data centers ps: kill your lawn

Also, I don't care if #2 gets 99.999999999% of the water and the agribusinesses make a quadrillion dollars so long as #1's (and #3's) needs are met.

It's not. There are often limits on watering frequency and more folks are switching to native plants/drought tolerant plants.

It sounds like you’re referring to drought measures. We’re no longer in drought, so many drought measures have been lifted.

I lived in California for 26 years. If this is true, nobody listens.

They do. In my HOA we let the grass go brown to conserve water and, at a domestic level, we rarely took baths (vs showers).

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