Two related articles in the March 18 issue of the Glendale News-Press caught my eye.
In “Water District Withdraws Emergency Restrictions,” the chief assistant general manager for GWP indicated that because of the recent storms, GWP might consider loosening the two-day-a-week watering restriction and expanding it to three.
That would be a bad idea, and it would send the wrong message; namely, that the drought is over. As it is, numerous residents violate the two-day-a-week and 10-minutes-per-station restriction.
Just because we’ve had an extremely wet winter does not mean that the historic multi-year drought is over (the Colorado River and Lake Mead are still at historic lows), and GWP and city and state leaders should not encourage residents to think otherwise.
And it would still be a smart idea to replace water-thirsty lawns with drought-tolerant landscaping.
In regard to “City Council to Pass Ban on Gas-Powered Leaf Blowers,” I say, “It’s about time,” and kudos to the City Council for proactively addressing this issue. We bought an electric leaf blower years ago for our gardeners to use and recently they have purchased, at their own expense, a battery-powered leaf blower that is just as powerful and efficient, but much quieter than the loud, polluting gas-powered ones.
Here’s another suggestion for residents: Why not have your gardeners come once every two weeks instead of every week? Except when we have a lot of rain, especially in the summer, grass doesn’t grow that fast. Moreover, taller grass retains moisture better. If all residents changed the schedule of their gardeners to once every two weeks, that would reduce the amount of noise and air pollution dramatically, with no discernible adverse effect on lawns. You can pay them double because there will be two weeks’ worth of weeds, leaves, etc.
At the City Council meeting when this issue was discussed, Councilwoman Paula Devine suggested that the city should better inform and educate residents about the leaf blower issue. I would recommend educating residents about the water issue as well and encourage all residents to do their part to conserve our water and improve our air quality.
Henry D. Schlinger Jr.
Glendale
First published in the April 1 print issue of the Glendale News-Press.
