Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

Water authority ups bounty for removing grass

Conservation Pricing

Leila Navidi

In this 2008 file photo, Heber Jovany Peralta, left, and Cesar Peralta of Acacia Landscape haul gravel into a Las Vegas back yard where they’d removed all the grass.

Landscaper Dane Keiser is bracing for a surge in business after the Southern Nevada Water Authority upped its bounty for removing grass to conserve water.

Instead of paying $2 per square foot of grass exchanged for landscaping that doesn’t need water, the authority in June began offering $3. The money helps offset the cost of installing desert landscaping, which can cost $6 to $8 a square foot.

“When the public knows more about it, I think they’ll be all over it,” said Keiser, who co-owns and operates a Las Vegas Valley landscaping business. “It’s good money, but most homeowners don’t really know.”

Grass removal is the easiest and most cost-effective way to cut water usage, authority spokesman Bronson Mack said.

The authority will pay $3 per square foot for up to 10,000 square feet of grass removed and $1.50 a square foot after that, up to a maximum rebate of $300,000.

The program, which began in 1999, has assisted residents in converting 185 million square feet of grass to water-efficient landscaping, the water authority reports. It says that has saved the community billions of gallons of water.