It was an unusually hot and dry June. I was at the curb getting my mail when a neighbour approached me.

“You'd better start watering,” he said in a huff, “your brown lawn is ruining the look of the whole block!”

I smiled and replied, “I'm sorry, I like the look of green grass, too. But I don't believe in watering; haven't for quite some time. God will water it when it rains. I guess He must need the water somewhere else right now.”

“You'll have to reseed your entire lawn by then; this grass ain't coming back,” he grumbled as he walked away.

“Not true,” I answered to his back, “grass always comes back. It's just dormant. You need to have a little faith.”

Precious Commodity
He was one of many on our street who were over-enthusiastic about their lawns. Daily, they would pour on hundreds of litres of water in an unspoken competition for the greenest grass on the block.

I probably should have tried to explain my stance about lawn watering and why I don't take water for granted, but I doubt he would have wanted to listen.

It began a few years ago as I became more and more aware of the serious water crisis that exists throughout the world. And that ever-increasing awareness eventually took me back
to my early childhood.

My family lived in a house without running water or indoor plumbing. The only water was supplied by a shallow surface well that filled when it rained. In the summer, the well would dry up, and in the winter, it would freeze. Those were the times we would have to find water elsewhere.

I remember watching my older brothers hauling in buckets of fresh clean snow that Mom would melt on the stove. In the summer, a public well in the city offered free drinking water. My dad and my brothers would load two shiny, galvanized metal cans into the trunk of our old Hudson. Usually, there would be a half dozen people ahead of us waiting, but no one ever seemed to mind. When the cans were filled and the lids snapped on, they'd be carefully lifted into the trunk. Slowly, Dad would creep the car home with my brothers riding in the trunk—feet dangling off the bumper—to steady the cans.

Even at that young age, I realized the life-altering impact water had on our family.

Water Crisis
In North America, our unlimited supply of clean fresh water is too often taken for granted. On average, North Americans thoughtlessly consume 75-100 litres per person each day.

In comparison, there are regions in Africa where clean water is so scarce each person must survive on a mere three litres per day. Not just for drinking, but also bathing, cooking and sanitation. (An ordinary garden hose or lawn sprinkler can distribute three litres of water every minute.)

In developing countries, the lack of uncontaminated water claims thousands of lives every day. That seems unconscionable when I observe yard after yard being needlessly drenched for hours at a time, with most of it ending up running off into storm sewers. During the summer, North America's outdoor water use is approximately four billion litres of drinkable water per day. And the majority of that water is used for lawn and landscape watering.

Design by God
Understandably, my toasted turf doesn't make me a very popular guy in the neighbourhood. It does, however, help keep me conscious of the senseless squandering of one of our most precious natural resources. It is one of the many blessings the Lord has given us and for which we are responsible to be good stewards. May we lead in its conservation and be wise in its use.

As for my yard, by mid-August, the dry spell was over and the rains returned. And just as I knew it would—much to my neighbour's chagrin—so did my lawn. With grass as lush and deep green as any on the block … exactly as God designed it.

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Water Conservation Tips

Kitchen: Install a low-flow faucet aerator, which can cut water use in half.

Bathroom: Don't use the toilet to dispose of paper or facial tissues.

Laundry Room: Wash only full loads in the clothes washer.
Yard: Set sprinklers to water the lawn, not sidewalks or driveways.

Garden: Use water-wise plants. Native and adaptive plants will use less water and be resistant to local plant diseases and pests.

Car Washing: Using a running hose to wash your car can waste 400 litres of water. Using a bucket and a sponge plus a trigger nozzle on the hose will save 300 of those litres.

—Environment Canada