This Utah County Will Buy Your Lawn to Save Water
Would you ditch your grass for less-thirsty plants? In a place where every drop of water counts, a little cash compels residents to say yes.
Would you ditch your grass for less-thirsty plants? In a place where every drop of water counts, a little cash compels residents to say yes.
T he Virgin River cuts through a towering red rock gorge flanked by forested plateaus as it meanders through Washington County in southern Utah. The river is the primary source of water for the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the United States, which includes the city of St. George. Washington County is the largest employment center in southwest Utah, with a population of 200,000 that is expected to double by 2060.
It’s also the hottest and driest county in Utah, and it’s dependent on a singular water source: the Virgin River Basin. But the Virgin’s waters are thinning from climate-change induced drought and overuse. Water conservation is necessary to meet the increasing demands of growth, and Washington County boasts some of the toughest measures in Utah — including a bold program to “buy” residents’ grass as a way to get them to swap in less water-dependent plants.
Grass is thirsty. Statewide, 70 percent of residential culinary water is used on lawns. By shifting landscaping away from grass and to plants more readily adapted to the climate, residents can reduce landscape watering to nine gallons per square foot annually, compared to 37 gallons for conventional turf.
