Salt River Project partners with city of Mesa to remove grass and replace it with Xeriscape
Staff Reports | Digital Free Press
Salt River Project (SRP) is partnering with Mesa to expand a city program that encourages qualified residents to remove grass and replace it with a xeriscape (low-water-use) landscape.
SRP will provide a dollar-for-dollar match to help expand Mesa’s successful Grass-to-Xeriscape Landscape Incentive program, which has helped residents save an estimated 127 million gallons of water since its inception in 2007, according to city officials.
Mesa’s residential water customers can earn up to $1,100 for removing grass and replacing it with low-water-use trees and plants. Thanks to the grant from SRP, Mesa will be able to provide incentives to even more residential customers, city officials tell Arizona Digitial Free Press.
SRP will fund the program up to $15,000 per year for five years, totaling $75,000. The partnership is expected to save an estimated 372,000 additional gallons of water annually. Studies show that every square foot of grass replaced with Xeriscape can save 25 gallons of water per year.
“Mesa is excited to partner with SRP to expand our efforts with the Grass-to-Xeriscape Incentive and help more customers create desert-friendly landscapes,” said Scott Bouchie, Environmental and Sustainability director.
The program assists single-family residential customers in Mesa to reduce their landscape water use by half or more by replacing water-thirsty lawns with landscape plants appropriate to the Sonoran Desert climate. Xeriscape provides wildlife habitat and helps to create shade for people, homes, and communities.
“We live in an arid environment where its so important to conserve water. We are excited to provide support for a program that has been so successful in reducing water usage in the city of Mesa,” said Leeann Yacuel, SRP senior water planning analyst.
The program supports Mesa’s municipal water conservation goals as well as SRP’s 2035 sustainability goal for water conservation by identifying and supporting five billion gallons of potential water conserved by 2035.
For more information about Mesa’s Grass-to-Xeriscape Incentive program, visit mesaaz.gov/conservation.
