The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) offers homeowners looking to transform their lawns with drought-resistant landscaping a program that includes rebates to make that adjustment more affordable.
Currently, LADWP offers residential customers $5 per square foot for a project between 250 square feet to 5,000. The price is the same for commercial customers and multi-family dwelling units, though the rebate lowers to $3 per square foot for projects past 50,000 square feet. While it’s straightforward when it comes to understanding how much the rebate will be, it’s much more complex when figuring out what the cost of the project will be.
However, others are expressing concerns about how viable it is for homeowners.
One of those people is Kelly Shannon McNeill – an associate director of LA Waterkeeper, an organization that fights for the health of the region’s waterways. She said that the cost varies depending on what each customer wants to do and if they’re hiring help. For someone undertaking a project around 1,000 square feet by themselves, for example, she estimates the cost would be around $5,000, which is what the rebate would be.
“If I was a homeowner, I couldn’t afford to spend thousands of dollars and then wait … however long it takes to get a rebate,” said McNeill, “And I think that’s true for the vast majority of Angelenos. There’s probably a lot more people that would be willing to do this, if not for the reason of conserving water and helping our environment, for the reason of saving on their bills.”
Managing the Conservation of Water
LADWP is encouraging residents to conserve as much water as possible, even though the county and state have almost fully recovered from droughts after a couple of years of heavy rainfall. But Rainfall is unpredictable and collecting it is expensive because the infrastructure may have to be built to do so.
McNeill estimates that 70% of residential water use in LA is used outdoors. She added that water is getting more expensive due to climate change and removing PFOS – perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, which high levels of exposure can lead to developmental effects or delays in children and an increased risk of some cancers – from our drinking supplies.
Through drought-resistant landscaping, homeowners can reduce the amount of water they use, not only helping to conserve water but also lowering their utility bills. McNeill said less water usage overall would help the majority of Angelenos who aren’t affluent and wouldn’t be able to afford the rising cost of water.
While it’s unknown exactly how many Angelenos have signed up for the program over the years, Mark Gentili – manager of water conservation programs at LADWP – said they had more than 5,000 residential applicants in 2023 and 1,080 so far this year. The total square footage that’s been transformed, Gentili said, is at least 50 million square feet. He also added that it takes 10-12 weeks, depending on the project, for applicants to receive their rebates.
When customers start their application, he said, they’ll be informed that they need to submit a site plan for what the project will look like and photos of the turf they’re going to replace. There are also resources listed on the LADWP website for potential applicants on how to get started and free classes for residential landscape workshops. The site also lists where you can get free trees and mulch for your project.
“There are resources [and other information] also on the application … specifically terms and conditions, which are important to make sure the project does everything a turf removal project should do,” Gentili said. “For instance, collect water in case of a storm event … to make sure that they save the maximum amount of water.”
Still, McNeill counters that finding resources could be more streamlined for customers.
For example, she recommends planning your project in the summer so you’ll have your approval in the fall; you could then work through the fall/winter season and be ready by spring. But that isn’t made readily apparent when you apply.
“Nowhere on LADWP or Be Water Wise or any of the resources’ websites say [when to start planning], and so that’s something that we’re going to be putting together in the next month or two,” she said. “[We’re looking into] how we can serve this up to people interested in doing this in a way that’s really accessible for them, so it doesn’t require you as a homeowner to do all the research yourself and try and navigate this complex process.”
Additional Support Program Being Considered
It’s why McNeill and LA Waterkeeper advocate for what they call the direct install program. In October 2023, the city of Los Angeles announced they had received a $19.1 million grant for climate resilience projects, of which $14.6 million will go towards transforming Angelenos’ lawns for free.
Gentili said LADWP hopes to launch the program at the end of the year so it will be up and running by 2025. Some details are still being determined, but he added that it will only be available to low-income individuals.
“The prerequisite is that you have a living, green turf that’s going to be removed to make sure that the end result is that you save water,” Gentili said. “We have several contractors that will be on board doing different areas.”
McNeill believes this is the number one way to make drought-resistant landscaping more accessible.
“It’s going to make our region more resilient and it’s going to increase the financial security of Angelenos because they’re going to be saving considerably on their water bills,” she said.
For more information on LADWP’s turf replacement program, go to https://www.ladwp.com/who-we-are/water-system/water-conservation/turf-replacement-program.