Turf Removal Programs Collapses

By Arlo Tinsman-Kongshaug, Editorial Intern

With the severe drought acting as a wakeup call to conserve water, more and more people have been searching for solutions.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, backed by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power dug up a wellspring of incentives. Chief among them was the popular Turf Rebate program, which allows residents to get rebates for replacing their water-consuming turf with more drought-friendly plants. So popular was this program, that its allotted funding quickly dried up, parching the plans of many well-meaning future water savers. At least for the moment.

Many people wonder whether or not the water district will ever reopen its rebate program to new applications. Bob Muir, a spokesman for the water district, said the agency may reopen it sometime in the future, but for now, they are just working on taking care of existing rebate requests that have not yet been fulfilled, with their remaining funds.

“Right now we’re making a waiting list of those who have not yet received their rebates,”  Muir said. “We are trying to transfer those who did not qualify for the rebate (for example, those who did not finish their project within the 120-day period).”

So now what? Well, we don’t exactly know. Obviously things have changed in terms of rebates. Before the water district’s rebate program collapsed, people would have been able to get a $3.75 rebate for every square foot of turf removed, by combining the district’s $2 rebate with LADWP’s $1.75 rebate. While the water district will no longer be offering its rebates to new applicants, LADWP will still be offering its rebate of $1.75 for up to 1,500 feet. They also offer a separate rebate for commercial, industrial, public agency and municipal customers of $1 for the first 10,000 square feet, and 50 cents for every foot thereafter, up to 43,560 square feet. Those wishing to apply for either of these rebates should go to the water district’s website atwww.socalwatersmart.com.

“We see in many programs that about 30 percent of reserved projects are not completed,” said Muir, on the subject of unfinished projects. “We only see about 10 percent are left unfinished.”

Muir said the district knew the money would run out, but not so soon.  

“The board hoped we would have money all the way into the fall, like September or October,” said Muir. “Instead of six months, it lasted six weeks”.

There have been an overwhelming number of people who have flocked to the program. However, the program’s collapse reminds us that we need more than surface solutions, which risk being underfunded by water authorities, and perhaps speaks to a far deeper disconnection between the interests of governments, water agencies and individual water users that continues to cloud our practical policy judgments.