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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: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday June 11 2021, @03:06PM
I grew up in the northern Rockies. The West is arid in parts, but it has as many parts that are green, so Stegner's assertion strikes me as overbroad. South Central Utah with the Dixie National Forest area is emerald. Colorado is a large swath of green except for a corner in the northwest near the Wyoming border and the eastern approach, but there you're really talking about the Midwest as it's an extension of the Great Plains. California north of Sacramento is thickly forested (including the Red Woods National Park). New Mexico from about the Los Alamos plateau and Bandoleer National Monument and north is also green and forested.
There are also many watersheds that are fine. There are many rivers throughout the region that are excellent for trout fishing, BTW.
I suspect what's at work with perceptions of the West is heavily colored by a perspective coming out of Southern California, which drinks the Colorado river dry it's so thirsty.
Washington DC delenda est.