Tuesday 25 September 2007

Drought in North Carolina

We are in the middle of a massive drought in North Carolina at the moment. The water restrictions are getting more severe all the time, and every day when I commute to Duke, I see how much more the Falls lake has gone down. At Duke, though, all continues in blissful ignorance of all this. Water squirts everywhere for hours on end to keep the gardens green and sprightly. When I walk from Campus Drive carpark, I often see pools of water on the pathways where the sprinklers have not aimed as well as they might. I was pleased to see an editorial, therefore, in today's Duke Chronicle, encouraging the Duke community to take notice:

Save Water

Unbeknownst to most students, North Carolina is in the midst of one of the worst droughts in its history. Last month, the state had its lowest streamflows in almost 110 years. Farmers and city-dwellers alike are feeling the water crunch.

Here at Duke, however, the lawns are well-watered and a healthy shade of green.

For a university that claims to be "green" and concerned about the surrounding community, Duke and its students should make a better effort to practice conservation during this time of need . . .


1 comment:

Jacqui said...

Doesn't amaze me in the slightest as where we lived in Texas we have an on/off drought situation most of the time.

In 2000/01 when we arrived they had one of their most severe droughts and watering was down to strict rota system and no sprinklers.

However, the home owners Association was still going around checking peoples lawns were being mowed (mowed lawns need more watering) and were not yellow. So you would go around the town where there was nothing but scorched earth and then see houses with the perfect green lawn!