While people continue to debate causes and solutions related to the climate crisis, the science is in. Warmer temperatures are heating the planet, and it’s having a ripple effect on the choices homeowners make. With water costs rising right alongside temperatures, many people are looking for easy ways to conserve water. Lawn grass is one of the most irrigated crops in the United States, making residential lawns a target for conservation efforts.
It’s hard to tell exactly what percentage of the potable water supply in a given area ends up on lawns, but the Environmental Protection Agency states that about 30% of household water is used for landscaping. To make matters worse, half of that is wasted through inefficient watering. Excess watering doesn’t just impact the water supply — it also affects everything downstream by causing increased erosion and chemical runoff from lawns.
Across the country, people are tearing out their lawns and trying a new landscaping trend to save money on their water bill. Especially in desert regions like Phoenix, Arizona, where grass can be almost impossible to grow, there’s a growing anti-lawn movement. Homeowners are swapping turf for drought-tolerant plants and looking for other ways to make their yards sustainable.
Xeriscaping for water-wise landscaping
It’s been over 40 years since Denver Water first coined the term “xeriscaping” by adding the Greek word for dry (“xeros”) to “landscaping.” In nearby Littleton, Colorado, resident Lena Astilli is replacing grass with native plants and spoke to the Associated Press to bring awareness to the benefits of low-water landscaping. She has her reasons for growing native plants, saying, “A monoculture of Kentucky bluegrass is not helping anybody.” Her xeriscaped yard provides much-needed habitat for insects and birds while saving time and money compared to grass lawns…