The beginning of the end of lawns, one rebate at a time

When Kim Chapman and her husband Don Gross were tired of their lawn, and the brown grass and the water bills that accompanied it, they got paid to remove their grass. They were one of 150 households who have benefited from the City of Sonoma’s turf removal rebate since it launched in 2013.

The program has been able to drastically reduce the amount of water used by residents who remove their lawns, since nearly half of a home’s water bill can come from maintaining lawns, Sonoma City Water Manager Mike Brett said.

For residents, the program has created an opportunity to be more environmentally conscious and find less impactful landscapes, such as indigenous plants or rock-scapes, there are a wide variety of aesthetics in water-wise gardening.

“As the drought got worse, we realized it would be the responsible thing to do because I felt so guilty watering the lawn,” Chapman said.

Chapman and Gross replaced their lawn in 2021 with black lava rock, a look that made the home seem more architecturally modern, they said. And with no grass to water and maintain, Chapman said “it’s saved us a ton of money.”

The Index-Tribune reviewed records of the lawn removal program and found that the city has provided $123,140.03 in rebates to the program. Each $1 represents the a square-foot of lawn, with the program covering up to $1,000 per household.

“There has been much more public messaging and outreach that has proven to be effective in promoting things like turf removal and water conservation,” Brett said. “And whether that messaging comes more directly for water conservation or climate change, it does have that effect.”

The program peaked in 2015 when 70 residents applied and removed their green space. After a lull between 2017 and 2020, the worsening drought caused the program to rebound in 2021, when households were asked to cut 20% of their water usage.

“Warm temperatures in California this April and early May have made 2021 a critically dry year,” the state of California Drought Action website states. “The water year that ended Sept. 30 was the second driest on record, due to extreme heat and lack of rain and snow. All 58 counties in California are now under a drought emergency proclamation.”

Sonoma Water program manager Paul Piazza said the climate in Northern California isn’t suited to take care of lawns naturally. And therefore, artificial -- and often inefficient -- watering systems are necessary to keep Bermuda and Fescue grasses evergreen.

Programs like turf removal rebates, he said, have been one of the most important tactics to encourage residents to reduce water use over the past 25 years Piazza said.

“They're very important, and I can say that based on a pretty significant downward trend in water use over the past 25 years,” Piazza said. “Most of the agencies in Sonoma County that are part of this Sonoma-Marin Water Saving Partnership have had active water use efficiency programs dating back to the ‘80s and early ‘90s.”

While December 2021 had nearly 2 inches more of rain than normal for rainfall in Sonoma County, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, January and February have been dry and, especially this week, warmer than the historical average. As a result, vegetation in Sonoma Valley has already started drying, increasing the fire risk, said Trevor Smith, the fire marshal of the Sonoma Valley Fire District.

Chapman and Gross, they don’t really miss their lawn.

“We were mowing the lawn, but we weren’t really using it for anything,” Chapman said. “We weren’t entertaining on the lawn, we weren’t doing anything with the lawn. It was just there.”

To apply, visit sonomacity.org/water-conservation.

Contact Chase Hunter at chase.hunter@sonomanews.com and follow @Chase_HunterB on Twitter.