Going from this:
to this:
can save you big bucks in Coronado.
California American Water wants you to ditch your lawn. And they’re willing to pay you a dollar for every square foot of water-guzzling tuff grass you replace with water-saving alternatives– native plants, pea gravel, wood chips or rocks.
To participate, just log onto their website and download the application.
California American Water is joining with water companies around the state in offering rebates in an effort to promote water conservation. In coming decades, there simply may not be enough water to go around in a region that imports half its water supply.
“We’ve been managing on the same amount of imported water since 1990. We had 14 million people then, we’re at 19 million now,” Jeff Kightlinger, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District told the Huffington Post.
“By removing your lawn, you can cut you water bill by one-third, said Brain Barreto, California-American Water’s external affairs officer for southern California.
California American’s rebate program started in July of 2012. “Customers asked for one, so we went to the public utilities for permission,” Barreto said.
“To replace a lawn on a 40X100 square foot lot, you can expect to pay around $3,000 to $4,000,” according to orchard-winning landscape architect David Reed, whose landscaped a number of houses in Coronado and the 1906 Lodge. And the most you can expect to receive from the utility is $1,500, according to Barreto. Still, the conversion may be well worth the expenditure.
“Given the increased demands on southern California’s water supply, rates can be expected to rise as much as 7.5% annually,” Reed said. “Over time, the percentage of savings from a sustainable landscape will increase. You’ll not only save on water, you’ll save on maintenance,” Reed pointed out. Lawns need to be cut, edged, fertilized and weeded on a regular basis. Locally, it costs $45 an average of month just to have a lawn cut and edged.
“If you can capture a return on your investment over five years, it’s a no brainer,” Reed said. “You’d be crazy not to do it.”
A sustainable garden need not look barren. “There are a number of flowing native plants, sages, buckwheat, Manzanita and milk weed, which butterflies love, so there’s an added advantage to planting it,” he said. “There are also some beautiful succulents that have seasonal blooms.”
For people who feel the need for some turf, Reed recommends UC Verde. Hybridized by the University of California in 2003 for southern California; buffalo grass has the look and feel of turf grass but only uses a quarter for the water.
For now, planting Buffalo grass won’t get you a rebate, but that may change, according to California American Water’s Patrick Pitz. He said that he has “had some positive feedback and may consider offering rebates for such a conversion in the future.”
It’s not just about saving money. It’s also about aesthetics, sustainability and the future.
“Coronado is known for it’s beautiful gardens,” he said. “It is the perfect community to create a new vocabulary for how a garden should look.”
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Gloria Tierney
Staff Writer
eCoronado.com
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