Thornton Colorado Water Conservation
The city of Thornton Colorado is adding itself to the list of cities around the country incentivizing citizens to remove grass. They are providing up to $1 per square foot up to 1,000 square feet for removal of grass. The city has struggled to get consistent water rights due to lawsuits related to a pipeline project that is being blocked up around Fort Collins. This is just one attempt to get water usage down by citizens especially considering the city did a poor job of acquiring water rights.
Most of Colorado is an arrid climate and water is a scarce resource so these types of programs make a lot of sense. Approximately 60% of water usage during the 2nd and 3rd quarters in Colorado go to irrigation. So these types of rebate programs are helping cities reign in water usage. Climates like Thornton are very arrid and this type of environment makes water a very scarce resource. The city along with several others around the nation have made it a mission to work on reducing water usage to deal with the scarcity. The turf removal and "cash for grass" rebates are considered by some people to be a gimmick, but the idea is they will hopefully influence people's decision on reducing water usage. We personally believe these programs can be a big deal and really help to reduce the usage of water in the long term.