Los Angeles, Calif. – The Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern California this month immediately began offering offer homeowners what it calls a “modest” rebate to install synthetic turf.

Water officials said the program is the first of its kind in Southern California. A handful of Northern California communities offer similar programs (we list those below).

The Metropolitan Water District is Southern California’s main water supplier, serving nearly 18 million people in six counties. The new rebates cover the agency’s entire service area.
What the district actually did was add synthetic grass to its list of water-saving devices that qualify for financial incentives. The rebate program will now pay 30 cents for every square foot of turf a homeowner replaces, or between 2 percent and 3 percent of the local estimated retail cost of $12 per square foot, said district spokesman Bob Muir.

For complete information about the district’s rebate program, visit http://www.bewaterwise.com/rebates01.html.

Other California water districts and agencies that have rebate programs encouraging the use of water-friendly landscaping such as NewGrass™ include:

Soquel Creek Water District
Rebates of $2 per square foot for synthetic grass that replaces an existing lawn.
http://www.soquelcreekwater.com/Turf_Rebate.htm.

Santa Clara County
Rebates of up to $1,000, or $75 per 100 square feet (whichever is lower) for homeowners (up to $10,000 for commercial, industrial and institutional properties)
http://www.valleywater.org/Water/Water_conservation/index.shtm.

North Marin Water District
Cash rebates of $50 per 100 square feet of regularly-irrigated lawn that is removed, up to $400 for a single-family dwelling, $100 for a townhouse or condominium, and $100 for an apartment.
http://www.nmwd.com/c4g.html.

MESA, Ariz. – Mesa is launching a Grass-to-Xeriscape rebate program today that will pay residents up to $500 to switch from water-thirsty turf grass to more water-friendly alternatives such as synthetic lawns like NewGrass™.

Residents who remove 500 square feet or more of established turf grass and replace it with a water-conserving alternative qualify for a rebate of $1 per square foot of grass that is removed, up to a $500 maximum rebate. To qualify, you must be the current owner of a single-family home in Mesa and be a Mesa city water customer.

Applications are being mailed to all residential water customers this week. Complete information is available at http://www.cityofmesa.org/utilities/conservation/grass-to-xeriscape-rebate.aspx.

Mesa joins a list of Valley cities in the Phoenix area that offer the rebates to homeowners who replace their lawns with artificial grass or other water-friendly xeriscape alternatives. Visit the following Web sites for more information:

Peoria: up to $550 (http://www.peoriaaz.com/utilities/conserve/)

Tempe: up to $500 (http://www.tempe.gov/conservation/LandscapeRebate/program.htm)

Glendale: up to $750 for an existing homeowner, $200 for a new home, (http://www.glendaleaz.com/waterconservation/landscaperebates.cfm) and $3,000 for a business, homeowner associations or multi-family property (http://www.glendaleaz.com/waterconservation/nonresidentialrebate.cfm)

Scottsdale: up to $1,500 for a residence (http://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/WaterConservation/turf-res.asp) and up to $3,000 for a commercial property (http://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/WaterConservation/turf-com.asp)

LAS VEGAS – Future droughts in the West and Southwest United States may be longer and more severe because of a regional warming trend that shows no signs of letting up, according to a new report from the National Research Council.

The report concludes that although technology and conservation will not solve the challenge of limited water supplies in the long run, conservation measures are necessary.

Because 60 percent to 80 percent of all residential water use in the Southwest is used on lawns, it only makes sense that switching to a synthetic lawn like NewGrass™ can have a major positive impact on water conservation efforts.

The Public Policy Institute of California, a San Francisco-based think tank, has said, for example, that residential lawns in California could help suck parts of the state dry. A report from the institute says that although the issue is of more concern in hot, inland areas in the Central Valley that are growing, even the state’s coastal communities will eventually feel the pinch.

A long-term water conservation research project sponsored by the country’s third-largest public utility company, in Arizona, has put synthetic grass side-by-side with natural local grasses and xeriscaping to determine artificial grass’s long-term feasibility. The Salt River Project (SRP) is sponsoring the research as part of its ongoing efforts to help give consumers new and better information about water conservation alternatives.

Reconstructions of the flow of the Colorado River over hundreds of years based on studies of tree rings show that average annual flows vary more than previously assumed and extended droughts are not uncommon.

The Natural Research Council study says very strong evidence suggests that rising temperatures will continue to reduce the river’s flow and water supplies, potentially affecting the flow of water to southern California, Nevada, Arizona and Colorado. The report further warns that coping with water shortages is becoming more difficult – the result of rapid population growth and rising temperatures.

The combination of limited water supplies, rapidly increasing populations, warmer regional temperatures and the likelihood of recurrent drought all point to the potential for endemic conflict among current and future water users, the report concludes. [more]

Greg Goehner, president of NewGrass™ said that public awareness of the need to conserve water is increasingly becoming a reason people choose to replace their natural turf lawns with artificial grass.

“More and more, it’s not only a lifestyle choice,” Goehner said. “It’s not only about having a lawn they can really enjoy or that their kids can play on all year. It’s that, plus the water savings they seem to be realizing we need to achieve over the long term.”

Ernst Smirden, a scientist at the University of Arizona, chaired the panel that conducted the study for the National Research Council, part of the National Academy of Sciences.

“The preponderance of scientific evidence certainly suggests that the warmer temperatures will reduce Colorado River-flow and water supplies in the future,” Smirden told National Public Radio. “We think, in all probability, there will be droughts in the future that will be more severe than anything that we have experienced.”

Exceptionally dry conditions in much of the Colorado River basin in recent years, along with new stream-flow reconstructions based on tree-ring data, prompted the Research Council to convene a panel to examine how weather and climate trends might affect the river’s future flows.

For many years, understanding of the river’s flow was based primarily on records from stream gages. But the tree-ring data is transforming that understanding by demonstrating that the river occasionally shifts into decades-long periods in which average flows are lower, or higher, than the 15 million-acre-feet average of the record the gages show.

In particular, the tree-ring reconstructions show that the years 1905-1920 were exceptionally wet. This is significant because the Colorado River Compact that governs the allocation of water between upper and lower basin states was signed in 1922 – when it was assumed that annual average river flow was closer to 16.4 million acre-feet. Tree-ring data also indicate that extended droughts are a recurrent feature of the basin’s climate.

An increasing number of water districts and cities are seeing the benefits of NewGrass™ and other synthetic lawns as a viable, proven water conservation measure.

In California, the Soquel Creek Water District, which serves 49,000 customers within mid-Santa Cruz County, recently began offering rebates to residents who replace their natural turf lawns with artificial grass.

The district noted in publicizing the effort that “making the switch to faux turf can save thousands of gallons of water every month.”

The agency recently began offering customers a rebate of $1 per square foot of synthetic grass, up to $300. The rebate will be in the form a credit on a customer’s water bill after their installation is inspected and approved.

To battle misunderstandings of synthetic grass, the district laid down a sample plot bordered by native plants at its district offers as part of two hands-on workshops in 2005.

Las Vegas Expanding Current Program
The Souhern Nevada Water Authority recently re-launched its Water Efficient Technologies (WET) program with more flexible rules and bigger rebates. The program is aimed at enticing more businesses and government entities to improve their water efficiency.

The cap on any entity’s total incentive was tripled, from $50,000 to $150,000. Since participants are paid based on how much water they conserve, tripling the cap could also triple the amount of water saved, Doug Bennett, the authority’s conservation manager, told local news media.

As of August, the authority said WET had paid out almost $590,000 in incentives to 22 businesses and government entities. Combined, those 22 customers have saved more than 268 million gallons of water annually.

WET offers a one-time financial incentive to customers who replace older, less efficient water systems and cut their water use by at least 500,000 gallons a year. Participants can use just about any method of improving efficiency, including the use of artificial grass, like NewGrass™.

The agency said that even with the new rules, WET is unlikely to approach the level of success seen by the water authority’s best-known conservation initiative, the turf rebate program.

Since 1999, that program has paid residents and business owners specifically to replace their lawns with desert landscaping and is credited with eliminating more than 72 million square feet of water-guzzling turf grass in the Las Vegas Valley.

The rebate program reported reaching two milestones this year: It exceeded 20,000 landscape conversions and pushed its annual water savings past 4 billion gallons.

Two Other California Districts Move Ahead
Back in California, a water district in the High Desert region of San Bernardino County recently began offering customers rebates of 40 cents for every square foot of natural turf that they replace with low-water-use, desert friendly landscaping – which can include products like NewGrass™. Eligible projects in the Victor Valley Water District’s Cash-for-Grass Program must be at least 1,000 square feet, which means a rebate of at least $400 per customer.

“With the unprecedented growth the High Desert has experienced, many new homeowners do not know that approximately 70 percent of their water usage is for outdoor landscaping and water uses,’’ the district’s Web site explains. “While many homeowners and business owners enjoy the look of a lush, green lawn, they find that our desert climate makes maintaining such a yard costly and time consuming.”

Water officials in Central Orange County, California, recently reported the results of a trail “Turf Replacement Project.” The Irvine Ranch Water District and the cities of Irvine, Lake Forest, Newport Beach and Tustin installed about six acres of synthetic lawn like NewGrass™ in six public parks.

The idea was to see how much water could be saved using synthetic grass and also raise public awareness of the “new generation” of synthetic lawns.

After three months, the study determined that the 7,837 square feet of artificial grass would save an estimated 149,917 gallons for water annually, or about 2.56 acre feet a year.

The installations also were well-received by the public. The district said the program generated calls from residents for information about synthetic lawn rebate programs and about the product in general, a report on the project said.

As summer temperatures continue to climb, drought conditions persist around the country, and suburban growth in arid regions of the Southwest and West continues, water conservation is increasingly on everyone’s mind.

It’s not surprising that an increasing number of cities and water conservation districts are paying homeowners, businesses and even schools to “go synthetic.” Many are offering rebates for property owners who tear out existing natural turf and replace it with artificial lawns, such as NewGrass™.

Depending on the location and climate, studies show that homeowners and some businesses use between 50 percent and 70 percent of their water on their natural grass and gardening.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority recently cited turf replacement as a key element of a long-range plan to heighten local conservation efforts. The water authority – the region’s wholesale water supplier – is also expected to make most of its existing drought restrictions permanent. These include prohibiting front lawns and limiting the size of back lawns for new homes.

One obvious choice for new-home buyers is NewGrass™ or similar synthetic lawns. One of the key advantages of products like NewGrass™ is that they require no watering at all.

The water authority currently offers rebates to residents and business owners who tear up their turf and replace it with desert landscaping. Officials hope to increase participation in the program by lifting the $300,000 cap on rebates for individual properties, which means it would be more attractive to golf courses and similar large facilities.

The agency also is debating offering a $1 rebate for every square foot of turf removed. The current program pays $1 per square foot for the first 50,000 square feet and 50 cents per square foot after that.

A special incentive program will be designed to get schools and other government buildings to take out any grass.

More Cities Pay Property Owners to Use Synthetic Grass

In Albuquerque, N.M., the city water commission offers as much as $500 to residents who convert even part their lawn to landscaping that needs little water or to artificial grass.

Las Vegas, Nev., and Mesa, Ariz., have similar programs.

“For people who really just want to see green, artificial grass is an alternative,” says Jean Witherspoon, an Albuquerque water-conservation officer, told the Wall Street Journal in a related article.

The North Marin (California) Water District has paid high schools $15,000 an acre to switch from natural to synthetic surfaces. The district also limits the size of combined natural turf and swimming pools in new homes to 5,000 square feet, and encourages plants over turf grass. Reno, Nev., in 2003 started paying homeowners willing to remove grass from their yards $1 per square foot. The program paid out $13 million in its first seven months.

Tempe, now in its ninth year of drought, also pays homeowners to remove grass and plant cactus. Along with paying homeowners $100 each to remove grass, Tempe offers grants up to $20,000 to businesses that reduce water consumption by at least 15 percent.

NewGrass™ is the registered trademark for one in the new generation of artificial grasses. It is primarily used as a no-watering, maintenance-free, natural-looking alternative to natural grasses in home and commercial landscaping.

Water conservation organizations, environmental groups and public agencies are increasingly suggesting the use of synthetic grasses in the fight for water conversation.

The trend has been gaining momentum over the past few years. But installing artificial grass in place of natural turf still seems to come farther down the list of water conservation measures, say, installing household fixtures and appliances that consume less water.

Nonetheless, products like NewGrass™ are gaining ground – so to speak – as many areas of the country learn to live under continued draught conditions.

The Cochise, Ariz., water conservation office on its Web site has this to say about artificial lawns:

“While natural turf certainly has its place, artificial turf is often a viable alternative, particularly where turf applications are decorative or cover large expanses. Artificial turf eases the labor burden, the expense and time involved in weed and pest control and grooming, as well as the costs of equipment associated with traditional turf.

“Most importantly, (artificial grass) not only eliminates the need for irrigation with ground water, but acts as a permeable mulch, as it allows rain water to pass through and infiltrate into the ground.”

Reno, Nev., in 2003 started paying homeowners willing to remove grass from their yards $1 per square foot. The program paid out $13 million in its first seven months.

Tempe, now in its ninth year of drought, also pays homeowners to remove grass and plant cactus. Along with paying homeowners $100 each to remove grass, Tempe offers grants up to $20,000 to businesses that reduce water consumption by at least 15 percent. One of the key advantages of products like NewGrass™ is that they require no watering at all.

Since Phoenix installed a synthetic field in its Desert West Sports Complex last fall, it has saved over 1.5 million gallons of water and estimates it will save over 2 million gallons in its first year, according to news accounts.

In addition to the savings that water conservation bring, the city is saving money because maintenance crews that once tended to the natural field daily now only need to spend a couple of days a month there.

Payson was the first Arizona city to install a synthetic grass field, in 1997, and has added others since. The synthetic playing field has saved 1.6 million gallons of water per field per year, city officials report.

The city recently reported that after nearly 10 years of use, the artificial grass is in nearly the same condition as when it was installed.

The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension office suggests down-sizing, eliminating or replacing natural turf with a synthetic lawn, such as NewGrass™.

“Turf can be the most water-intensive planting in a landscape,” the Extension reports on its Web site. “If you don’t need the turf, replace it with lower water use landscape options. If you need turf, consider a synthetic lawn or a native grass turf.”