Las Vegas Property Owners Offered $1 Per Square Foot To Root Out Grass

"The bulldozer roars, and bites into a patch of green grass in Las Vegas, the city once hailed for making the desert bloom. It is ripping up five acres of football pitches, formerly the pride of the gambling city's Ed Fountain Park, because a five-year drought has left the grass of parks and gardens parched.

Out in the sprawling suburbs of America's fastest-growing city, Jerry Edgerton is one of hundreds of householders who have accepted an unusual offer from the water authority: $1 (56p) for every square foot of turf they dig up. Instead of a lush front lawn he now looks out on to a brown, manicured version of the desert. It is the end of what was once the suburban dream. City councils across America's arid western states are being forced to introduce "desert landscaping" around their buildings.

Swimming pools are banned from new housing estates, and in Las Vegas only the big, glittery casinos of the "Strip" are still allowed to keep their fountains gushing. The water authority has budgeted $30 million this year to pay people like Mr Edgerton - enough to dig up the equivalent of almost a football pitch each day.

Patricia Mulroy, director of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, said: "Time is running out, and conservation - even pulling up all the turf - is just tinkering at the edges." For several winters running there has been below-average snowfall in the Rocky Mountains, producing only half the water "run off" on which the modern West depends. In Colorado, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and Southern California, 30 million people depend on water from the Colorado River. "There is no more water. The drought that couldn't happen is here." said Ms Mulroy."

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of their 2 little squares of grass that they bought for their anniversary. They had to sneak them into their development and plant them in the back yard behind a privacy fence. There is a fee or tax for having grass. Everything else is called zero scaping with no grass anywhere.

great deal that can be done with it. I do love a nice lawn and I am glad they have their little bit of heaven but perhap they need to be somewhere where it rains so they are not criminals because they like things green.

of their 2 little squares of grass that they bought for their anniversary. They had to sneak them into their development and plant them in the back yard behind a privacy fence. There is a fee or tax for having grass. Everything else is called zero scaping with no grass anywhere.

Agriculture is 60%, and industry is 30%. At least, that is according to one report that I read.

Assuming that's correct, it means that there is only so much water we can save by addressing residential use. Not to say that we shouldn't do everything we can, but it does put a pretty tight bound on the maximum impact of residential conservation.

It also implies that the best place to make a big impact is agriculture and industry.

maybe some rocks or sand, some cacti or other succulents. you don't need grass to have a nice yard!

to get rid of their stupid lawns.Government shouldn't have to pay that. Perhaps a rationing scheme?
The real problems are curbing growth and the idiocy of growing green crops in the desert and trucking them across the continent. I suspect in 20 years Greater Sonora will belong to the lizards and snakes again.