Some people wonder why me and my wife are so strict about not using pesticides and weedkillers in our yards. Well, there’s the general principle of not contributing more toxic chemicals to the environment, and in San Jose there was the concern that our cats walked in the yard, then slept in our beds, and we didn’t want them tracking in chemicals (other than dust and pee and poop, but, oh well).
But in South Carolina? We have a well. Our yard is our source of drinking water. And the recent unexpected excess precipitation event really brought that home by making the water drainage channels visible:
We get enough chemicals from our neighbors poisoning their lawns. We don’t need to add any more to it. In fact, we’re busy enough trying to slowly clean up the waste that the previous owners left on the property … it’s a nice house, but someone seemed to think that the woods around it were a dumping ground.
One step at a time. But one of those steps is, don’t add pesticides or herbicides to your own drinking water.
-the Centaur
P.S. Yes, I understand a lot of chemicals get filtered out by the dirt. There’s still no need to add to it.
