Hygrometer Sprinklers

Warning:  Audubon Society Moment

I grew up in a double-decade drought in California.

California, where cities are all as vain as Agrestic.

It was an interesting juxtaposition of water conversation and beautifully manicured landscaping.  I remember laws of all sorts aimed at saving the water:  can't water during the day, can't water on this day, can't use the hose, can't wash your car, etc.

I remember what a pain it was to turn on the sprinklers early, early in the morning before... automatic sprinklers.

Then, the invention of the automatic sprinklers led to the wonderful solution of letting people sleep in, while the sprinklers are running during a rainstorm.

And thus we find the problem with automatic sprinklers:

Sprinklers are only automatically controlled by a clock.

How is this helpful to water conservation AT ALL?

The answer is:  it's not.

What we really need is this:  We need automatic sprinklers that are controlled by hygrometer (moisture sensers).

In combination with this, the American populace needs to realize that continued cultivation of the water-sucking weed we call grass cannot continue while we have continually diminishing fresh water reserves on Earth.  We need to get used to playing in drought-resistant lawns (like crab grass) instead of poisoning these plants (and thereby the ground and water) to make our lawns "pretty".

Now, I'm looking at buying a house with a lawn for a child to play in.  This idea doesn't sit well with me, either.  Perhaps I need to look into astroturf- perhaps we all should.

Regardless, we do need to change how we water our lawns AND our crops.  We need to be smart about how much moisture is actually needed based on the amount that's already in the soil.

We need hygrometer-based watering.

And we need it now.