Sam White's College Station Real Estate Blog

I grew up on a nice lawn. It made the running games of tag or hide and seek up and down the neighborhood pleasant. And since we lived in town, I guess my Mom and Dad really didn't think about the water it took to keep our lawns green in Hereford, Texas. Hereford isn't exactly tropical.

We came to Hereford from a "semi-arid" climate at 4,700 feet in New Mexico. It was a ranch where green lawns were small, you worked to keep the trees alive in the summer, and leaving the water or a toilet running through, could cause there to be no water for several hours. It wasn't really a pain, you just had to pay attention. It was part of life.

Even during a normal year, meaning one without extreme drought, it is expensive to maintain a classic green American lawn. We live in a nice neighborhood, built in the early 80's. Our neighbors are older and traditional, and I've watched many struggle to keep their grass alive, knowing not only what it cost but also how scarce water is this year.

Another neighborhood trait is that no one does their own lawn, so several times per week, large pickups pulling flatbed utility trailers with several riding lawn implements appear, and the neighborhood fills with the sound and smoke created by several small, inefficient engines. Grass is cut (which of course releases the little moisture that was in the ground), the smoky, noisy caravan moves to another part of town. I humbly apologize to my friends in the lawn care business...and I have some, but it just doesn't make sense.

I'm not suggesting that we go "Las Cruces, NM," where most lawns are rock or gravel, but in our part of Texas native landscaping natural and acceptable...when you think about it.

Deep down, I believe that humans are smart and that we'll get it. Drilling fewer wells, for those of us lucky enough to have wells, saves water and money. For those relying on dry lakes and rivers, you already know what a water emergency is like.

Hoping for rain in the fall,

Sam