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says he replaced his traditional lawn with low-water landscaping and
cut his water use by 50 percent!
“We all have to become smarter about how we use water,” says
Atwater. “If you go back 200 years in Southern California . . . water
was critical to developing every community. When they had only
a short supply, those people were really smart about how they used
water. Then 50 years ago when the aqueduct that brought water to
Los Angeles was built, they said, 'Here it is!' and they gave it away
almost free. Guess what? We used it because it was cheap and plen-
tiful, and we made Los Angeles into an oasis. But this is a desert
climate.
“Maybe we ought to go back to our roots of 100 years ago
when we didn't have cheap water from Northern California or the
Colorado River,” adds Atwater. “Remember, you can live in a gor-
geous place like this and use half the water.”
Conservation is an absolutely crucial element of maintaining
the water supply at a sustainable level, says Florida water attorney
Roger Sims. It can't be an occasional or seasonal idea, agrees Jeff
Kightlinger, the Southern California water wholesaler. “This is a life-
style issue,” he says. “We don't have enough water.”
“You wouldn't think we'd have these problems in a water-rich
state like ours,” says Lee Breckenridge, the Northeastern University
law professor in Boston. “But many municipalities around
Massachusetts must impose water restrictions in the summer
because they are facing a water shortage. One of the main problems
has been lack of basic conservation measures and overuse of water
for lawns. It's like a God-given right to have a lawn.”
Water conservation is itself a resource, adds Idaho rancher and
former legislator Bruce Newcomb. “It's a way to take water, the
resource, and use it more wisely. You have a responsibility to use
what you have wisely. I think that's defi nitely an important part of
water policy in any state.”
Water conservation needn't always be mandated by government,
either. When faced with a drying up of water, carpet manufacturers
in Dalton, Georgia, joined forces to conserve that precious com-
modity. Their cooperation wasn't government-mandated, but they
did it anyway.
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