This Is One Time the Locals Wouldn't Mind a Rainout

Atlanta has real problems with a lack of water, and it might even effect the NASCAR event scheduled for this weekend:

The historic Georgia drought may force changes in NASCAR's race plans next weekend at Atlanta. Teams have been told not to wash their big rigs and motor coaches. There has been speculation that NASCAR may change the weekend's format to make the 500 an “impound” race, with no practice after qualifying. ...

Teams use copious amounts of water to cool their engines during practice runs for qualifying; not a significant amount in the grand scheme of things, but enough perhaps to make for poor PR when the governor has called a state of emergency. All outdoor watering has been banned, because Atlanta has received only two inches of rain over the past two months.

I'm sure the NASCAR folks will be good citizens and do their part to save water, but at the same time, if there's a deluge that rains out the event, I don't think anyone will ask for their money back.

At least when the NASCAR teams pour water on something it makes some degree of sense, as opposed to this:

It's not even real grass.

But in the midst of what may be the worst drought ever in North Carolina, Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are watering the synthetic turfs used by their field hockey teams.

The International Hockey Federation insists.

The universities are not breaking any rules. But like clockwork, as residents in Durham and Chapel Hill see their plants and lawns wither, the sprinklers go on at the UNC-CH Francis E. Henry Stadium and at Duke's Williams Field.

Brad Schnurr, a Chapel Hill contractor who does work in Durham, saw the sprinklers go on one afternoon recently at Duke and drove around the block to make sure he was not seeing things.

"Sprinklers aren't even the right term, they're like fire hoses," Schnurr said. "I was like, 'What is that? What is that?' I couldn't believe it."

The International Hockey Federation requires the college teams to saturate the synthetic turfs before each practice and all games.

It's not just the way the ball bounces, athletics officials say, although field hockey balls do bounce better on saturated fields. When the turf is wet, coaches add, field hockey players have better grip on the surface and report fewer injuries.

Beth Bozman, Duke's field hockey coach, said she understood why passers-by could get all worked up over sprinklers going full blast amid conservation pleas.

"I drive a hybrid, and I recycle," Bozman said. "I'm as green as anybody. I understand."

Durham, which has about 69 days left in its water supply at the current use rate, has banned all outdoor watering.

We've had exactly 3 inches of rain in the last year in Southern California. While we're not in the same desperate position that Durham and Atlanta are, much of our area is on fire which has drawbacks of its own.