Katie Maximick
Special to The Record
“So what, it’s not like it’s against the law,” was the reply of one indignant Lower Mainland woman who was caught on film by a commuter after she flicked her lit cigarette butt out her window during this lengthy drought and dangerously high fire hazard.
That type of response seems to be pretty typical of people across the Island and Lower Mainland this summer who are being careless with cigarettes, illegal camp fires and lawn watering despite a ban.
I don’t understand. Do all these people think they’re entitled to something? Entitled to littering? Greener grass? S’mores?
What makes their priorities more important than things like potential forest fires or a lack of drinking water?
In the Comox Valley, it’s not so much careless smokers annoying the public as it is over-exuberant waterers.
We all know someone doing it. We can see luscious green lawns smattered across the Valley, sticking out like sore thumbs amongst parched, yellow expanses of grass. The sneakier residents keep their green grass and irrigation behind high fences, thinking no one will notice.
The thing is, people are noticing, and people are calling in to the municipalities to report them, and you know what? Good for them.
No one in the Comox Valley has the right to take water from our shrinking supply just to keep their grass green – grass that doesn’t die in a drought, but just goes dormant until the rain comes.
These lawn bandits are using vast amounts of our precious water supply just for esthetic purposes, that’s it, that’s all, which really makes them look selfish. It’s not like they’re rebelling against our watering restrictions to save trees, hedges or plants that don’t go dormant like grass (and cost a lot of money to replace). No, they’re doing this for the colour green.
Does anyone else see how ridiculous that is?
The worst of it is that some of these waterers getting busted and fined have the audacity to get angry at neighbours for reporting them, saying things like the neighbours are just jealous of their green grass.
No, they’re just concerned about our water levels like we all should be, because if we run out, we know who to blame – the hundreds of Comox Valley residents still watering their lawns in one of the worst droughts in our history.
What does it take to convince people that looks aren’t everything? Sure, that’s what TV and magazines have been hammering into us for decades, and we all love a great looking yard, but it’s time we all work together through this drought and do what we can to decrease our household water consumption until things turn around.
Suck it up and let your grass turn yellow. Talk about First World problems.
Katie Maximick is a freelance writer for the Comox Valley Record