Southern Nevada may look completely different much sooner than visitors and residents expected, as agencies like the Las Vegas Valley Water District set their sights on meeting goals laid out in a law targeting “non-functional” grass. Those types of lawns are typically used to beautify places like office parks or entrances to housing tracts, but they require a substantial amount of water that the region cannot afford to waste. AB 356 was approved by Gov. Steve Sisolak last June, which requires communities who rely on the Colorado River to phase out certain nonfunctional turf by the end of 2026.
The law also establishes a Nonfunctional Turf Removal Advisory Committee and requires that studies be done on water conservation. According to PBS, the nonfunctional turf targeted in this law alone accounts for 31% of the grass in the Las Vegas region. Already, millions of acres of nonfunctional lawns have been removed this summer as the whole Southwest continues experiencing severe-to-extreme drought in what’s been described as the region’s worst drought in 1,200 years. Las Vegas Water Authority Public Information Officer Bronson Mack told CBS News that the grass will be replaced by more water conservation-friendly drip-irrigated trees and plants.
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A study published way back in 2007 touted the benefits of drip irrigation, especially as it relates to residential water consumption. Sadly, AB 356 does include a carve out on single-family homes, so if a property is zoned as such it’s up to the owner to decide how they want to conserve water. The law does apply to commercial property, homeowners associations, and housing developments. According to the Southern Nevada Water Authority, this elimination of nonfunctional grass will “save our community an estimated 9.6 billion gallons of water per year.”
Already, other cities are eying similar water conservation measures. Aurora, Colorado, which partially relies on the Colorado River Basin as one of its sources of water, will have its city council review its own nonfunctional grass ordinance. As the Gazette reports, the ordinance would primarily target cool weather turf like Kentucky bluegrass and fescue and bar its use in new golf courses and for new developments and redevelopments. Cool-weather grass would also be prohibited on street medians, residential front yards, and even in curb landscapes. Limits would be placed on backyards with cool-weather turf.
Nevada Independent reporter Daniel Rothberg argues that this is “just the beginning” to address rampant overuse of the Colorado River and worsening climate change that has pushed water resources to the brink. Writing in The New York Times, Rothberg details the consensus from experts that more must be done than just conserving enough water to stave off crisis but leave those reliant on the river on “the razor’s edge.” Southwesterners cannot live like they’ve been living if they want to come out of the present drought sustainably. Rethinking what landscaping looks like may be a crucial first step in that process.
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