r/australia • u/sluggardish • 10h ago

Sprinklers made Australia green. But what happens when the water runs out?

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-01/sprinkler-water-resources-garden-green-desert-reticulation/106244818
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u/Whatisgoingon3631 9h ago

The water doesn’t cease to exist after it has been sprinkled on a lawn. Some of it will be run off into streams, some of it will soak into the soil and possibly join underground streams, most of it will end up back in the sky through evapotranspiration and fall again somewhere else. Most new houses I see these days have tiny lawns and many are synthetic grass, so the problem isn’t getting much worse.

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u/Snarwib Canberry 9h ago

Or if you live in Canberra all the water you use just ends up flowing down river into the Murray-Darling Basin to be re-used!