Due to climate change, Nevada says goodbye to grass

[Mysterian]

Source: CBS News

In Las Vegas, Nevada, it's come to this: climate change has helped make water ever more scarce, so under a new Nevada law, the grass has got to go. "When we look at outdoor water use in Southern Nevada, landscaping far and away is the largest water user, and of that, it's grass," said Bronson Mack of the Las Vegas Water Authority.

The city's already pulled up about four million square feet of grass on public property so far this year, because thirsty green parkways are something they just can't afford anymore. "The grass that you see behind me is not long for this world," Mack told correspondent Tracy Smith. "In fact, within the next couple of months to a year, this grass will be completely eliminated, and it'll be replaced with drip-irrigated trees and plants."




Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/due-to-climate-change-nevada-says-goodbye-to-grass/?intcid=CNM-00-10abd1h

---

This is a preview of things to come in the Southwest.

[dalton99a]

1. Should have done that years ago

Great article

[niyad]

41. Exactly.

[Richard D]

50. Yes.

It's a sad commentary that we humans almost always wait until a crisis is happening to try to fix things.
The alternative, a far wiser one, is to do what can be done to prevent a crisis long before it happens.

[AllaN01Bear]

2. in the 1970s mom and i went to gallup nm and santa fe nm. they havnt had

lawns for years . the indians owned and still own the water rights . dont know what it is like now . somone said if you can afford the lawn , can we afford the water .

[Fullduplexxx]

3. Soon to be the great american desert

[maxsolomon]

65. It already is!

What it shouldn't be is a American Metropolis.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

4. What about the Golf Courses in Las Vegas?

There is a PGA course there that has a lot of grass. My husband golfed there the day before Halloween.

[PortTack]

8. There are lots of new state of the art artificial turfs that are designed just for golf courses

[paleotn]

10. If they're really serious, and apparently they are....

the golf courses will go as well. Then again, I haven't "played" in 40 years, so I have not vested interest.

[CaptainTruth]

19. I would hope that by now they would be using reclaimed (non-potable) water.

California started doing that years ago, I saw lots of purple PVC pipe being installed.

[hunter]

48. That's not going to continue for much longer.

It takes much less energy and costs much less to turn this non-potable water into potable water than it does to desalinate ocean water. This non-potable water is becoming too valuable to use on golf courses.

It's already happening where I live. Sewage gets turned back into potable water and near-potable water of higher quality than the "purple pipe" recycled water commonly used for golf courses and urban landscaping. The near-potable water is used for groundwater recharge and irrigation of high value crops. Some of this near-potable water is further refined by reverse osmosis and a few other steps to make potable water, the same steps used to make commercial bottled water.

Some housing developments were built with separate potable water and purple pipe systems but the purple pipes have never carried recycled water and it seems increasingly likely they never will. Our house was plumbed from the street for two water sources, tap water and irrigation water, but there is only one meter.

Do-it-yourself grey water systems are legal here without a permit if certain rules are followed. I'm not doing it currently because I don't feel bad about the water going to the sewage plant. I know it will be recycled. In the bad old days they simply dumped lightly treated sewage in the river.

[GoneOffShore]

83. Stillsuits are in our future. Otherwise earth becomes Arrakis.

[JCMach1]

49. Exactly, they use grey water in Dubai

[LogicFirst]

5. Phoenix needs to do the same. The water waste in Phoenix is horrible.

The Arizona Biltmore Golf Club, Adobe course, gets its water free from the city under some ancient contracts. This course is continually over-watered. The same holds true with the city owned Encanto golf course. I’ve complained to the city council, to no avail.

[certainot]

36. idiotic. we need hemp golf courses or something. they don't have to be lush like they

are.

[NJCher]

6. so glad to hear this

It needs to happen everywhere. Grass is a monoculture.

I live in suburban NJ, about 12 miles from NYC. Everyone has a lawn and just about everyone is too damn lazy to maintain it, so there is this practice of hiring "landscapers" (read "manual laborers) to come in with heavy machinery and mow and blow and in general make the place a living noise hell.

I had a student who worked in a gas station and told me that every time a landscaping truck pulled into the station, they could count on a $220 sale. That was over a decade ago; imagine how much it costs now.

The idea of dragging heavy equipment around to maintain lawns is stupid. Using fossil fuels to drag around equipment using more fossil fuels is what it amounts to. And this goes on all day, every day. Sometimes you can't even get through the streets because of these huge trucks with all this equipment. If you go outside, you have to wear ear protection.

Oh sure, it's beautiful, all these perfectly manicured lawns--but at what price "beauty?"

[louis-t]

17. The gas powered machines that blow grass around are the biggest waste of gas and time

I have ever seen. Not to mention the noise.

[LT Barclay]

38. I've always wondered how they got a patent for those stupid things. The scence between the designer

and a patent lawyer would be worthy of a SNL sketch, but alas people wanted them.

[NJCher]

45. actually, I know the history

I learned all about leaf blowers when I got a ban* on them in the town I used to live in, just next door to the town I currently live in.

They were invented in Japan and used for cleaning out stadiums after sporting events. Somehow they got appropriated (or misappropriated, I should say) in the U.S. and were used to clean out leaves.

Interestingly, Japan does not allow their use in residential areas. That may have changed, but I don't think so. Maybe one of our posters who lives in Japan can help out with this info.

Now they are used regardless of whether there are leaves. Once I saw a guy blowing nothing in a driveway, so when he was finished I asked him why he was blasting a leaf blower if there were no leaves. His response: "so the customer thinks they are getting their money's worth."

The abject stupidity is enough to drive one insane. There is no thought whatsoever given to how much pollution these things put out.

I laughed at your comment about the designer and the patent lawyer comedy sketch. Another product that I don't understand is the blow up holiday decoration--like the giant inflated Santa. These things are powered by air and when turned off, they collapse on your lawn like an empty trash bag. Consequently, if they are not plugged in, the lawn looks like it has colored trash bags all over it. How did anyone think this was a good idea?



*ban: took me and a grassroots group of 2000 fellow citizens to get this ban and it took me six years of part-time work. Once we got the ban, the industry sued and made us take it to a referendum. This cost the town quite a bit of money, but the citizens voted for it and now this town has inspired many others around NJ to institute such bans. But not my town! So I did all that work and because I moved, I get no noise reduction benefit for all the time I put in. But I'm not bitter.

[LT Barclay]

85. Don't be bitter, great experience and a much needed victory!!

Lawn ornaments, ornamental lighting that stays on 24/7, endless meaningless junk.
Interesting history though. Thanks!

[LT Barclay]

39. And yet some HOA's battle people who try to convert lawn space into a garden.

I hate lawns and mine shows it, but I haven't had the time or money to convert to something useful.

[moniss]

44. I've always disliked

HOAs etc.

[Shermann]

79. I watched a worker operating a leaf blower today at the office park

Gas powered of course, just making a racket. There wasn't a leaf or a pine needle to be seen. He was just standing there blowing air around.

[CrispyQ]

7. Business park lawn has to be the stupidest, most wasteful thing ever thought of.

A lot of it gets watered in the hottest part of the day & often you see sprinkler heads shooting water in the street instead of on the lawn—lawn that no one ever walks on except to maintain it. WTF?

[NJCher]

51. what

WTF?


Complete and total lack of imagination.

[The Unmitigated Gall]

9. Past time to do this...

I’ve seen stunning landscape architecture with varying shapes and textures of gravel, stones, drought-tolerant plants and trees.

[littlemissmartypants]

20. Hardscaping. Extremely under rated. Dramatically increases property value.

Link to photo collection of examples...

https://photos.hgtv.com/photos/hardscape-/#/term/hardscape/page/36/

I'm so glad you mentioned it.



❤ pants

[The Unmitigated Gall]

24. Exactly. Beautiful concepts!

Thank you.

[littlemissmartypants]

25. YW ❤

[electric_blue68]

33. Ah, I liked a lot of these. 👍 Been thinking for some years that having a small lawn....

say 10' x '10 ft for a big family to have a picnic on it, '8 x' 8 for a medium family, and a '7 x '7 a small family or couple. Maybe at least in areas with more rain.

Then drought resistant plants, shrubs, trees. Now I see these cool hardscapes, and architectural additions.
Though the last l two seem awfully expensive for a lot if people!

[certainot]

37. i wonder how often these get use, except but the ms gardener and pool boy

[Stratman]

66. Completely agree

We have a lot of mature trees in our backyard and trying to keep grass looking decent was a never ending battle.
6 years ago i installed a flagstone area 20’x20’ just off the deck with a propane fire pit in the center. The rest of the back yard we brought in gravel and covered every square inch with it.
I love it. No chemicals, no constant reseeding, no maintenance other than picking up after the dogs.
Cut way down on mosquitoes and cleaning up the leaves in the fall is a breeze.
I also bought an electric (battery powered) mower trimmer and blower for the front yard and love that as well.

[littlemissmartypants]

70. Excellent! I put in 12x12 inch stone off the deck which creates a walkway and

an area for patio furniture In the form of a bistro set. I also filled in the area with medium sized river rocks to finish off the space. I decorated with 24 inch high ceramic angels, a bird bath and a couple of ceramic statutes, a lighthouse, three monkeys and a little girl sitting on a log are featured around the area.

I have huge Azalea bushes that line the perimeter like a fence that are eye poppingly beautiful when blooming. The others, which are smaller, different color and variety, are in teak boxed plots with river rock as well.

Don't have to worry about weeding, snakes, mosquitoes. Especially the disease carrying mosquitoes, that have grass as their primary habitat. I despise them. Also, I have a brown thumb so minimal plant life is my specialty.

❤

[Stratman]

71. Sounds amazing

We have a large birdbath that I turned into a fountain of sorts by taking a good sized terracotta pot and inverting it. I took a metal “bowl” from an old freestanding fire pit and mounted it on top of the pot with a water pump under the pot.
The water pumps into the bowl and spills out over the edges.
I also built a “water wall” behind the fire pit. It’s about 8’ wide and 6’ highwith clear corrugated plastic on the back. The water is pumped up the sides and cascades down over the plastic on the back. Looks really cool with the sun shining through it at dusk. Put an LED light strip around the back as well so it’s lit up at night.

Our backyard is my favorite place to hang out

[littlemissmartypants]

72. Certainly none of it's done in a hurry. But enjoying it is especially gratifying. ❤

[Stratman]

73. For sure

Did all of the work myself, step son and son in law helped me spread out all the gravel.
All of the design and construction were labors of love for me.
Actually built the water wall as a Mother’s Day surprise for my wife.
Have built a couple more smaller in scale for family members as well.

[littlemissmartypants]

82. Well done, Stratman! I'd love to have a water wall. Very sweet of you to do that for your wife! ❤

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

11. This is a step in the right direction.

Cultivated lawns are the bane of our environment and should have been outlawed decades ago.

Bravo, Las Vegas!

[we can do it]

12. Grass is a waste anywhere.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

13. When we were in New Mexico last in 2018,

Landscaping involved colorful rock, Cactus, and other plants that required little watering.

I read that the Rio Grande in Albuquerque has dried up.

[UpInArms]

16. Well, I have grass and never water it ...

I do have to mow it …

And I have 5 acres that I have baled in 1400 pound round bales (never water it) and I have a horse pasture that I have to mow with a brush hog (never water it)

I feel like I live in a gorgeous state park and love my many hours spent under the trees with lovely unwatered grass

I think it just depends on where you are …

I could not live in the desert … but a lot of people would hate my winters where it gets to 25 below zero …

[onetexan]

28. Couldn't agree more, except on farms, pastures and open areas feeding animals.

I hate that many American suburban communities' HOAs stipulate having grass lawns. Xeriscaping is the better alternative and it's natural and beautiful.

[maxsolomon]

67. I have a lawn about the size of a bocce court.

I use a reel mower. We water maybe 3 weeks a year, at the height of the summer dry season.

It's kind of nice to have a little lawn. Our cat likes it.

[we can do it]

69. We have an even smaller patch, organic, no water push mow.

Everything else hardscape or perennial beds, a few annuals every year. Rain barrel for watering flowers.

[csziggy]

75. Except in pastures!

About 40-50% of my farm is in pasture grass - Tiftquik Bahia. Around the house I had them put in centipede, much of it cut from in the pasture where it was invasive and crowding out the pasture grasses. After the first few weeks, the centipede has not been watered - but then I am in Florida. The main place we put the grass was in a drainage trough that is also a pathway and on slopes where we needed the erosion control that wildflowers would not provide.

Most of my landscaping is native wildflowers, watered when they are first planted, then left to their own devices and the normal rainfall. I plan to add more beds in the areas too shady for the centipede grass, then gradually increase the flowers to reduce the grass to walking path areas.

[we can do it]

76. Of course pastures, I meant yards...poison and water waste.

[csziggy]

78. I know, just being contrary ;-D

That's one of the reasons I selected centipede grass - it can handle droughts once established and doesn't need fertilizer in our clay soil. The only real reason to mow it is to keep weeds down. It has a thick thatch of roots so it holds the soil even on steep slopes.

For my pastures, I don't do much fertilization. This winter we limed the pastures - with the clay, it's too acidic for pasture grass and we are trying to re-establish neglected pastures. I'm hoping the lime will also discourage the centipede since it likes an acidic soil.

Our eastern slopes drain into a creek that drains into the St. Marks River so I don't want to do anything to pollute that water system.

[3catwoman3]

14. We would be happy to say goodbye to our...

...grass here in Illinois.

[Peregrine Took]

15. My super smart husband started minimizing our lawn 30 years ago

in our Chicago neighborhood.

I don't think the neighbors liked it as it was a "who has the prettiest house on the block" area.. Every time he "mowed" the grass it got smaller and smaller and he planted flowers in the newly bare areas.

[NJCher]

52. now that

is the way to do it!

Yep, smart guy you got there.

[ripcord]

18. I don't think the California coastal areas will ever give up their lawns

Many in the suburbs really believe green lawns are a right.

[Buckeyeblue]

21. As a plant grass does absorb carbon

However, I'm against watering or using herbicide on grass. When the grass grows we mow it. If it's a dry spell and it turns a little brown, so be it.

[NickB79]

43. Grasses sequester carbon mainly in the roots

Lawn grasses are notoriously shallow-rooted, so their carbon sequestration is very limited.

If you want to sequester carbon with grass, plant a native prairie restoration. Big bluestem puts roots down 10' or more. Of course, it's not mowable like a regular lawn.

[Tetrachloride]

54. golf course grass roots are not always deep

so the course “needs” more water .

The more rain, the deeper the roots, especially if the soil is moderately sandy or thick top soil.

Poor courses are rocky or clay or pure sand. Water runs off and is essentially lost.

[Maeve]

58. Our yard is heavily wild strawberries and clover

Doesn't need mowing as much as the neighbors' yards and never needs watering. And after a rain, our yard is where the birds come for lunch.

[electric_blue68]

80. Sounds nice! I like clover, and got to pick tiny wild strawberries when on a wild foods walk

[Wingus Dingus]

22. Where I live, in a semi arid part of the west, grass lawns are uncommon.

The suburb I live in doesn't make you have a lawn, just makes you keep a somewhat-landscaped front yard and a "natural vegetation" back yard (if you choose, at a minimum) that is hopefully kept mowed and not overgrown. That said, if you don't have a lawn, you have to have a real plan for landscaping, even if it's just rocks/gravel and a few trees or shrubs--AND you still have to weed and irrigate. Watering (if you're not on a drip system), and pulling and spraying tumbleweeds and field bindweed and spurge, take up probably as much time per week as mowing a small lawn, maybe more so. There's no maintenance-free, input-free landscaping if you own the yard.

[moniss]

46. I've seen

painted concrete and use of blacktop to replace grass. No more weeding.

[NJCher]

53. yeah, but

that increases runoff.

With the wonderful array of plants, shrubs, trees, ornamentals...it's so easy to have a beautiful space.

Of course I say that because it's my thing. A lot of people don't give a hoot about what their landscape looks like.

I adopted the "wild" look. I have no grass, but I do have ground covers. Bamboo in back for privacy: the surprising thing about it is that it's very protective. More than once the bamboo has kept large trees from falling on my house.

Flowers everywhere. Hostas, all kinds of impatiens because it blooms all the time. Hanging gardens.

[moniss]

61. Don't get me wrong

about concrete. I'm not advocating I'm just saying I've seen it used in this fashion.

[NJCher]

62. I figured as much

I live in NJ: we know our concrete. And asphalt!

[Thomas Hurt]

23. Home pools and pool service businesses are an endangered species in the West.

Time to break out the xeriscaping practices.

[JI7]

26. Eco Friendly gardens

Grass in front of homes in the US and other places and it's mostly about just physical appearance and takes too much water.

I have been reading about eco friendly gardens but they don't look clean cut but they are environmentally friendly and I think they look fine but I know know many people who want a certain look would not go for it becsuse it can look "messy".

You plant things based on where you live and they are mostly self sustaining.

[Snackshack]

27. This should be how...

It has always been. The amount of water used to water areas that have no business being in a desert.

[2naSalit]

29. It's a fucking DESERT!!!

What did you expect? To grow grass there endlessly in a hostile environment?


This is where reality kicks in, just because you live in a desert doesn't mean that the sky daddy is going to make a lush green lawn for you.

JFC, I knew it was a waste of water and a money gouging farce to think that grass can grow in the desert forever back in 1970, the first time I ever went there it was obvious.

[twodogsbarking]

55. Best post on this topic. Have a drink of water, on me.

[2naSalit]

56. Thanks...

It just blows me away to see how so many are oblivious to how fragile their environment is. Most have no idea where their food and water originates, like meat coming from a plastic tray rather than understanding that it came from a real animal.

I hear it all the time from folks who live in the US SW, they think because water comes from the tap, all is good, They don't see that their lifestyle, itself, is the problem. But they insist that they are not going to change their routines for "x" to feel better followed by equivocations. Our society is in big trouble and several ugly wake-up calls are soon to come.

[twodogsbarking]

57. I grew up on a farm. In the early sixties we had a two year drought.

We pumped water from a well a mile from our house for clean water.
A mile of plastic pipe through the pastures. Rain is king.

[2naSalit]

59. Yup.

[twodogsbarking]

30. Google says.....

Our addiction to lawns means that grass is the single largest irrigated agricultural “crop” in America, more than corn, wheat, and fruit orchards combined. A NASA-led study in 2005 found that there were 63,000 square miles of turf grass in the United States, covering an area larger than Georgia. May 2, 2019

[Wolf Frankula]

31. Butt Butt Butt We have to have golf course green lawns,

like our parents did in Ynjanny!

Wolf

[moonshinegnomie]

32. im in central texas (austin)

im having someone come by this week to discuss a plan to replace my lawn with either xeriscaping or native drought tolerant plants. I just cant justify throwing money away watering a lawn especially since the glass that was here when i moved in is about the least drought friendly grass you can have in this climate

[hamsterjill]

34. I understand that this must be done.

But good grief, it’s just ugly. Part of my anger over the lack of interest in climate change is that we will be losing some of this. Small price to pay in a larger picture, of course, but a sad reminder that we should have been taking this seriously for much longer.

[Omaha Steve]

35. Kick

[Bayard]

40. I do more and more with rock all the time

I know a farmer that lets me come get all the rock he's picked up in his fields over the years, and dumped them all in one spot. Gorgeous colors in orange, peach, rust, brown, all different sizes. I've built a gabion wall around most of my flower garden (which I hardly ever water). I made my own stepping stones for a wide path from the driveway to the front door. A friend gave me all the slate she had around a koi pond when they dismantled it. I laid a nice path from the driveway to the back door with it. I've also used rock for a big dry stream that feeds into a little catch pond if we get a lot of rain. Its also lined with the rock. We never water the grass, even when it gets crispy.

I use it all over the place here. I've also gotten some good sized boulders from our woods.

I do also love the xeriscaping in the Southwest.

[herxa]

42. Sad

😭

[moniss]

47. States and municipalities

out there have been horrendously negligent in allowing tremendous expansion/over-development despite knowing the shaky condition of their water resources. But the developers come calling with campaign money, do nothing jobs for relatives of politicians etc. and they all turn a blind eye. Greed is what they slake their thirst with.

[Magoo48]

60. Everyone west of the Rockies, at least, ought to get rid of their lawns. Xeriscape everywhere!

Or, grow food instead of grass if there’s a lot of water about.

Taking back even partial control of one’s food is one of the most revolutionary things we can do.

[Oneironaut]

63. Cacti are pretty.

I don’t understand why everything needs to be grass - especially where it’s becoming increasingly impossible to grow? Why not just plant succulents, or, just leave it bare?

I get grass is lovely, but, at a certain point, it becomes pointless and resource-heavy to maintain.

[Polybius]

64. I never understood why houses don't use artificial turf for their lawns

No maintenance, no work, looks the same.

[maxsolomon]

68. that's becoming more popular here in Seattle.

it looks pretty tacky, but I'm an effete snob.

[drmeow]

74. When I lived in Tempe

I converted 1/2 the grass to desert landscaping designed to attract hummingbirds and butterflies. It was beautiful and I had year round color, tons of hummingbirds and butterflies. The grass was watered with reclaimed water through flooding - which supported my citrus and peach trees. Desert landscaping is SOOOOO much nicer than grass!

[Mosby]

77. What's Growing in Arizona?

https://farmflavor.com/arizona/arizonas-top-10-ag-products-infographic/

[867-5309.]

81. Should have done that a very long time ago

Don't water lawns and then cry shortage

[Xolodno]

84. Penn and Teller had an episode on their show Bullshit...

....that pointed out that lawns were, well, bullshit. If memory serves me, they even pointed out lawns are not natural and most grass that occurs naturally is a mix of several kinds. They even got Nick Federoff to say it was basically just a status symbol.

[DSandra]

86. Nevada should look to Tucson, Arizona for landscaping ideas

Tucson has a lot of creative landscapers who have made impressive landscaping with desert plants and other drought tolerant plants.