I completely agree with Heike Stippler’s letter to the editor (Pique, March 29: “Whistler ‘needs to do better’ on water-use bylaw”).
We have an extensive natural garden and minimal grass area maintained by a professionally installed irrigation system. The watering is thoughtfully set to maintain the gardens with “minimal” water use, including our flower baskets and additional vegetable-producing pots located on our “bear-free” sundeck. All four zones are set to their respective watering times depending on their specific needs (nothing more than required).
This is an alternative to manual watering and sprinkling, which tend to use an exorbitant amount of wasted water that usually ends up on driveways and other impermeable surfaces… i.e. a sprinkler running unattended for hours on grass that only requires a minuscule amount of moisture—grass roots only run so deep.
Concerning the wildfire risk… lush gardens and lawns are an effective fire deterrent. Lessons learned from the Fort Thompson, Alta., wildfire? Most homes with “dry bark mulch” gardens burned down, homes with green foliage and grass did not.
