The days of huge, unused swaths of public and commercial lawns appear to be numbered in California and the Metropolitan Water District is offering an incentive to hasten their demise, at least in Southern California: A whopping $7-per-square-foot rebate to businesses, schools and other public institutions that replace their thirsty lawns with sustainable landscapes containing native and/or drought-tolerant plants
The offer, which went into effect Sept. 1, is the largest rebate ever offered by the agency and more than double the $3-per-square-foot rebate it previously offered to commercial and public customers, thanks to a $30-million grant from California’s Department of Water Resources and $96 million from the federal Bureau of Reclamation’s Lower Colorado Basin System Conservation and Efficiency Program.
Rebates for residential lawns are still at $3 per square foot, said Krista Guerrero, a senior resource specialist for the water district who manages the agency’s turf replacement program and specializes in outdoor water efficiency.
Essentially, Guerrero said, the Metropolitan Water District is trying to prepare some of the state’s biggest water users for a new state law, AB 1572, that goes into effect Jan. 1, 2027, prohibiting public entities including schools and municipalities from using potable, i.e. drinkable, water to irrigate nonfunctional lawns. The same requirements will go into effect for business owners in 2028 and HOAs and other common-interest properties starting in 2029.
Functional turf is defined as lawn used for recreational and community gatherings — even areas where children and pets can run and play such as outside homes or on schoolyards.
“But walking across a lawn to get to the entrance of a building is not considered functional,” Guerrero said. “Having grass around a parking lot is not considered functional. If you’re only standing on it to mow it, that generally means it’s nonfunctional.”
The agency believes commercial and public entities control about 20,000 acres of nonfunctional lawns in Southern California, Guerrero said, which could be a lot of ugly brown terrain in a few years if they all just stop watering that turf.
“The bill only requires that they stop irrigating [nonfunctional lawns], so we’re hoping to motivate them to beautify their property instead of just turning off their irrigation,” Guerrero said. “We’re not just looking at water savings. We’re focusing on biodiversity and environmental benefits too.”
For instance, to be eligible for the rebate, applicants need an approved plan to retain stormwater such as installing bioswales or dry stream beds that collect and store rainwater in the ground instead of allowing it to run off into the street. The new landscape must also include at least three water-efficient plants per 100 square feet, Guerrero said, “which depending on the plants they chose will cover 50% to 70% of the project area at full maturity.”
The new landscape doesn’t require an irrigation system, but if a new one is installed, it cannot involve overhead sprinklers, and the project area cannot include hardscapes unless they are permeable, meaning water can soak into the ground.
The agency’s website includes a long list of acceptable plants, which, unlike many such sites, starts with a long list of California native shrubs, grasses and ground covers that Guerrero compiled. The agency is working with the Theodore Payne Foundation to expand its water-efficient landscape certification program to include training contractors in how to properly maintain a native plant landscape, she said.
“We are very interested in providing design options for people who want flowers, colors, fragrance and ways to support pollinators — or people who want lawn alternatives such as Kurapia and dymondia,” she said.
“We want a diverse list,” she said, “because we want to maximize as many benefits as possible [with these new landscapes] — water savings, creating habitats, improving air quality and cooling. It’s opportunity to increase the environmental benefits of your property while showing your customers that you’re part of the solution.”
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