Las Vegas's new strategy for tackling drought – banning 'useless grass':
A new Nevada law will outlaw about 40% of the grass in the Las Vegas area in an effort to conserve water amid a drought that is drying up the region's primary water source: the Colorado River.
Other cities and states around the US have enacted temporary bans on lawns that must be watered, but legislation signed Friday by the state's governor, Steve Sisolak, makes Nevada the first in the nation to enact a permanent ban on certain categories of grass. Sisolak said last week that anyone flying into Las Vegas viewing the "bathtub rings" that delineate how high Lake Mead's water levels used to be can see that conservation is needed.
"It's incumbent upon us for the next generation to be more conscious of conservation and our natural resources, water being particularly important," he said.
The ban targets what the Southern Nevada Water Authority calls "non-functional turf". It applies to grass that virtually no one uses at office parks, street medians and the entrances to housing developments. It excludes single-family homes, parks and golf courses.
The measure will require the replacement of about 8 sq miles (21 sq km) of grass in the metro Las Vegas area. By ripping it out, water officials estimate the region can reduce annual water consumption by 15% and save about 14 gallons (53 liters) per person a day in a region with a population of about 2.3 million.
If you want grass, go live where grass grows naturally.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by looorg on Thursday June 10 2021, @09:18PM (8 children)
If you decide to live in a desert having a grass lawn is probably the height of luxury, and stupidity. Just tax it to death, sure some will still do it but the cost should be extreme, and people will rip them out. Imagine all the time and energy saved on not having to mow the lawn, or money so you dont have to pay you illegal Mexican gardener, any more.
(Score: 5, Informative) by DannyB on Thursday June 10 2021, @10:03PM (5 children)
I grew up in Las Vegas until age 14. (60's and part of 70's) Then my family moved to a midwest state to plant a church. Also: culture shock. But in hindsight I got to learn about a whole different way of life where the economy was geared around agriculture.
When I was a kid, lawns were everywhere. I remember watering the lawn. Mowing the lawn when I was old enough. Mowing neighbors' lawns for $5. Trees were everywhere.
In 2010 my company decided to have its annual Christmas party in Vegas instead of other venues. So I got to visit there again. Boy am I glad we moved when we did! I got to look at the houses I lived in. The schools I went to. The church I grew up in. The strip had no resemblance to what it once was. The organized crime was gone (or seemed gone) and everything had gone legit because corporations were more profitable and legal.
Now everything is rock "lawns". Palm trees (I guess they don't ask for much water). No shade anywhere.
I did some research, looked at videos, etc. Wow is Lake Mead low in water level! I fear for all of the Southwest states. Nevada, Arizona, parts of California, New Mexico, etc.
Imagine if Hoover Dam one day cannot produce electricity.
People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by krishnoid on Thursday June 10 2021, @10:07PM (1 child)
Bummer, right? [youtu.be]
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday June 10 2021, @11:26PM
Yeah, today it looks like Disneyland [youtube.com]
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 4, Interesting) by looorg on Thursday June 10 2021, @10:25PM (2 children)
Couldn't a lot of those issues just be explained by the large influx of people? A hundred years or so ago Las Vegas barely even existed and today there is like 600k people there? Year by year they just urbanize more and more. The town(s) clearly wasn't made for this. It's not that there are not large desert cities around the world but they are either shitholes or next to or close to large bodies of water of some kind be it sea/ocean/rivers or some gigantic aquifer. So what the hell happened to the Colorado and/or Lake Mead? It can't all just be drought or to hot, isn't it just to many people grabbing water from the same source?
Still a "rock lawn" makes sense in a desert, if you need something green grow cacti or something. It's not just for desert folks, my father ripped out part of the lawn a few years ago cause he was tired of spending all the time cutting and maintaining it. There is still a patch so he can sit outside and feel the grass and it can look nice but it's very small and it's totally square and with no objects in it so it can all be managed by the robo-cutter. All things that are not plants and trees was replaced by gravel and I think it looks quite nice. It's not green but it looks nice.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 11 2021, @05:58AM
Yes, but here in Seattle we had hundreds of thousands move to the region and still wound up net negative versus our water consumption from 20 years earlier through conservation efforts. That's both total and per capita reduction, so they shouldn't be up that much just due to increases in population alone. It's presumably the new residents expecting to waste water like the previous inhabitants and the previous inhabitants also not cutting back to something reasonable.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 12 2021, @06:15PM
mostly mexican invaders
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Reziac on Friday June 11 2021, @03:02AM (1 child)
Depends entirely on your grass. Sheep fescue (which is native) survives just fine on scant desert rainfall. It'll go dormant when it gets too dry, but about half the year you'll have an attractive lawn that doesn't need mowing, because it never gets more than ankle-high.
But yeah, adjusting water rates to discourage waste would be a lot more sensible than just decreeing that by damn you're not allowed to have grass. (Never mind the golf course, that's none of your business.)
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 11 2021, @06:01AM
You can also just give out rebates and free water saving showerhead along with educating the users, you'd be surprised how much water can be saved just by educating users and giving away free water saving items.
Pairing that with increased rates would likely be a good idea to avoid the paradox of efficiency.