This is interesting and, although it's been going on since 1999, we only recently heard about it for the first time: The Las Vegas Valley Water District is paying its residents to rip up their lawns in order to save water.
Over the top? Brilliant? Too little too late?
Well, here are the facts: Residents and businesses who qualify, can expect to be paid $1.50 for every square foot of grass they replace with water-efficient landscaping.
We'd love to hear from any Las Vegas readers on this one. How do you feel the program is working?
According to Planetsave, in the first eight years of the measure, about six square miles of grass have been eliminated, saving 18 billion gallons of water.
Non-Las Vegas residents, would you appreciate a program like this in your hometown? Or, have you replaced your lawn with drought-tolerant landscaping already?
image via Bob Townsend; sxc.hu
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I was in Vegas this December and noticed one of the casinos had some fake grass out front. It looked good, and I wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't see the Living with Ed episode where they got fake grass. It made me happy.
view fuel.shy's profile
I'm glad that Las Vegas is finally paying attention to it's desperate water situation, but what about those horrible huge water features at the Bellaggio? When we were there two years ago, I was appalled that such an ostentatious waste of water would be allowed.
And yes, I would welcome city incentives to decrease water usage here in San Francisco.
view SFGail's profile
FYI- all of the hotels/casinos in Las Vegas recycle their water for the fountains etc. So they are not the "ostentatious waste of water" that SFGail believes them to be. You are watching the exact same water pour through those fountains over and over again. As far as water use in Las Vegas, residents are actually the worst culprits, not casinos or golf courses.
The water district here is doing all that it can to work with large organizations and individual residents to conserve water, and to educate on why that is important and how it affects every aspect of our lifestyle.
view jhougen's profile
Hmmm. When you spray hundreds of gallons of water up into the air in 100 degree weather it does NOT all get recycled, it evaporates. Get real.
view SFGail's profile
Last summer in Georgia, we withstood the worst drought in over a century and finally decided to rip up our grass. Sans tiller, we shoveled our way to a drought tolerant shangri-la of jasmine, succulent and herb gardens, after which we received several friendly comments and very generous, unsolicited offers on our house. Apparently, even Georgians can make money on a non-lawn.
view alisabinator's profile