No firm foundation

In a recent post, I pondered the inevitable collision between suburban subdivision covenant boilerplate...

Excerpted from:
http://centerpointeleaguecity.com/documents/deed.pdf

...and the unsustainable reality associated with the long-term effects of changing rainfall patterns and reduced water supply:

Excerpted from:
http://www.leaguecity.com/index.aspx?NID=1578

Once again, regarding those St. Augustine lawns, we're supposed to have 'em, but we're routinely not allowed to maintain 'em the way that they need.  Eventually, with rising population and decreasing water availability, the incompatibility between these two legal requirements will grow to become more than the supreme annoyance that it currently is, and something will have to be done to resolve the situation.  We are already at the point where we have those marquis signs up around League City warning about the $500 fine for unauthorized water use.  I personally know of one Centerpointe resident who was paid a visit by LCPD and told to turn off their irrigation system a week or so ago.

Who knows? Maybe it'll be resolved very simply and painlessly when some politician steps forward to do for those bloody St. Augustine lawns what Rick Perry recently did for backyard flag poles and rooftop solar cells: prohibit HOAs and POAs from preventing us from ripping the water-gobbling things out.  Given the increasing local focus on water conservation regardless of our prevailing drought status, that would not surprise me in the slightest.

But there's actually a more fundamental water needs issue in play here than St. Augustine lawns:  our residential foundations.  I'm reminded of this today because the Austin American Statesman ran a very succinct piece on how to help safeguard slabs against breakage by consistently watering them:

Nice graphic.
Austin American Statesman
www.statesman.com 

If you're a new homeowner and don't yet understand the importance of watering, that quote above explains the gist of it.  Concrete doesn't bend very well, and so if it sags, it can break.  And once it's broken, your house will never be quite the same again, even if you spend tens of thousands of dollars on slab repairs.  

Both the League City Water Conservation Plan and its Drought Contingency Plan restrict landscape watering, but they appear to be silent on the issue of foundation watering: they don't authorize it, but neither do they prohibit it.  It's easy to imagine why: how might the splash hit the political fan if residents were told that they weren't allowed to water their slabs?!  And who would be liable for damages if such a prohibition were imposed?  I'm not going to comb through the mountains of contractual paperwork I have on our house to see if it says anything explicitly about that issue, but in general, I note that actions construed as negligent can sometimes void a homeowner warranty.  I'm not sure if failure to water a slab in one of the worst droughts in recorded history would be considered negligence, but nothing would surprise me.

Our slab, like many, is a pain in the butt to water.  We have one of those larger one-story house plans that are increasingly coveted by baby-boomer downsizers and empty-nesters.  As a result of the design, our slab perimeter is the better part of 300 feet!  An hours-long soaker-hose drag-a-thon is required to even make a dent in the water that it needs.  The effort required to water our St. Augustine grass pales in comparison.

Things to think about: if you only had so much water to use, would you rather save your house foundation, or would you rather save a bunch of St. Augustine that's going to look like crap in a drought anyway?

For that matter, if we made it into Stage 4 or 5 (the most restrictive stages) of our local Drought Contingency Plan, realistically, how much water do you suppose people could be convinced to stop using?  When it comes right down to it, do you suppose there would EVER come a time, short of completely disconnecting municipal supply, when local residents would stop using what is needed to safeguard the largest investment of their lives?

Yup.  I vote for xeriscape.