Shaping our Water Future (Day 2)

The second day of the water conference was eye-opening for me. Starting with the conservation presentation by the Greene County Administrator who stated that "the top ten water wasters are 1) Irrigation, 2) Irrigation, 3) Irrigation, 4) Irrigation, 5) Irrigation, 6) Irrigation, 7) Irrigation, 8) Irrigation, 9) Irrigation, and 10) Irrigation. We need to stop all watering and return the turf and landscape to native plants". I've heard all this before, but now I was in a room full of believers and it didn't seem that anyone wanted to talk about reality. I agree that there are a lot of landscape waterers who waste water, however I don't believe that they can completely stop everyone from watering. They focus on the automatic irrigation systems because they can have some control over them, but miss the point that they are more efficient than hose-end watering.
I was also surprised to hear the president of City Utilities say that their goal was to raise water rates on the water used for irrigation. I would think that there are other water-wasters that would be higher on the list. Car washes and swimming pools add chemicals to the water and then run it down the drain creating a demand on our treatment plants, but water that sustains plants that put oxygen into our air is viewed as a waste.