People need to quit focusing so much on their stupid lawns.

[Trillo]

83. I don't have a lawn.

I do have 7 avocado trees which are high water use, and they provide a barrier between me and the house next door (some idiot thought building two houses on small city size lots with their front doors facing each other was a good idea). The trees also provide privacy from the street. Our local building codes do not allow any fence higher than 3 feet (or thereabouts) in the front yard area.

Under the new water restrictions, I'll probably have to let my trees die, if I keep watering them on a twice a week schedule, they will not produce much food, and thus become water wasters, and its unlikely I can keep them alive on a once per week schedule. Once my trees are dead, I lose A LOT of privacy as well. Somehow, I do not believe the zoning folks in our authoritarian county will be changing zoning to allow 8' full-visibility blocking fences in the front yard area. 6' fences are not tall enough for me, since I'm taller than 6 feet, in order to have privacy when I'm walking in my yard, I need a fence taller than me. Fences require no water other than what little is required for concrete footing and/or posts.

I'm more than a little ticked off that agricultural use gets no restrictions on their water use, but a residence is presumed to have only ornamental landscaping and no food production. Besides a water shortage, this is also a economic and social war on residents, one that's been ongoing since the 1980s.