I don’t know anyone who has a ‘lawn’. But that’s cause I’m sort of a freak.
Do you have a lawn?
Here’s a story from Wired you should read.
What happens on your lawn should stay on your lawn. Scientists have found that runoff from residential yards is filled with far more pollutants than theoretical models would predict, even more than in some agricultural areas.
Loren Oki, an environmental science and landscaping expert from the University of California, Davis, and his colleagues picked eight neighborhoods in California and collected sewage every other week to check for pesticides, nitrates, and other pollutants.
“We started our study in 2006, and at the time there was very little data,” said Oki.”There is a chronic level of pesticides, specifically fipronil and bifenthrin, sometimes at very high concentrations.”
Most of those pesticides are often meant for killing ants, Oki explained, during a press conference at the American Chemical Society. In sewage, the poisons tend to be commingled with high levels of nitrates, from fertilizer, and other pollutants. So his team has been reaching out to several communities, in Sacramento and Orange counties, and offering suggestions to reduce their toxic runoff.
The solution is simple: Design your sprinkler system, and your lawn, so that none of its irrigation water runs into the gutter.
Oki’s lab plans to continue monitoring sewage from the neighborhoods to learn whether their intervention has been effective.
