by Ben B9 That's very, very true - but most people don't just allow for natural watering of desert plant species, they water them for continuous growth modes. Remember the newspaper stories that surface from time to time comparing the people with just a yard of grass with no trees, and the lush desert landscaping that's always green, showing the lush desert landscape yards use more water each month? Take a mesquite tree for example, which is a desert tree but one of the biggest water hogs when it comes to evapotranspiration...

by Evan H2 IWalmart can't supply Phx parks with water. We live in a desert and more businesses and municipalities should accept and adapt within reasonable means. Winter grass sounds great, however there is a hug cost factor to it. I don't believe Tempe even winter grasses their parks and fields.

by Ben B9 And last thing (sorry I'm on a rant I know!) - why not just not water for summer grass to keep it green when nobody wants to be at a park when it's 117 degrees out and it takes a lot more water to keep the grass green, and just flip the seasons - winter grass yes, summer grass no.

by Ben B9 One further comment: we have something like 227 golf courses that get used by about 100-200 people or so a day each... not saying that makes green grass at a park acceptable... but how about if each park had a small urban farming concept to at least produce some food? Or require that the future trees be food producing? My roommate always tells me that just 10,000 urban farmers would supply the entire produce needs for the entire valley. That'd be pretty awesome.

by Ben B9 Keep in mind that watering the trees in the parks uses many more times water than watering grass would. Also, here's an interesting fact: the three reactors at Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station use enough water each year to empty and refill every lake around here *twice* per year, just to cool the reactors: Roosevelt, Saguaro, Apache, Canyon, and Pleasant. So I don't really think two parks will make a huge difference. We have greater density, fewer homes with pools, and more homes with 1.6gpf toilets, 1.75gpm showerheads and 0.5gpm faucet aerators. Another interesting fact: the cooling towers for a typical grocery store or target or wal-mart use around 700,000 to 1,200,000 gallons of water per month, just for their air conditioning systems - much more than it would take to keep a park green during the winter months.