Las Vegas incentivizes removal of green turf. Should Utah?

Colorado is only now recovering from a 16-year long drought that resulted in the aquifer irrigation system becoming increasingly dry. Until the farmers decided to tax themselves for water consumption, realizing that saving water now and taxing themselves would protect their farms and livelihood in the long run.

A federally-funded water conservation program, the System Conservation Pilot Program, is paying farmers in the Upper Colorado River Basin to not use the river’s water during the irrigation season. Leaving their fields dry for the program can earn them more money than they would get from growing crops.

A turf buyback program run by the Washington County Water Conservancy District in Utah pays residents to swap their lawns for native plants. It's reducing the amount of water used for landscaping amid a drought.

The Utah state government is offering grants to encourage and enable farmers to invest in water-saving technology amid a severe drought. A farmer who wants to install a better irrigation system, like drip irrigation, will pay for half of the upgrade and the state will pay for the other half.

A study in Arizona found that landscapes that include a mix of desert and high-water-use plants are the best at simultaneously conserving water and limiting the urban heat effect.

Novva’s data center in West Jordan, Utah, uses recirculating pipes with refrigerant to cool its servers. This method uses significantly less water than the typical method, evaporative cooling.

Cape Town combated a historic drought through a combination of government-mandated water restrictions, fear-based public messaging, and Aqua-Loc flow-limiting devices, alongside citizen-driven innovations (like DIY water recycling systems, a community-managed natural spring, and a 160,000-member Facebook solidarity network). The efforts resulted in a 40% reduction in water consumption, though an inequitable burden owas placed on poor township residents.

In Australia, an impending drought demanded urgent changes. Addressing these needs, various government agencies launched innovative campaigns to establish new norms around collaboration and conservancy.

In Australia, the Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council was formed after a severe drought to bring together federal, state and regional governments and bridge parochial concerns. It was meant to manage the basin as a whole and end overuse and salinization of farm land, leveraging new technologies to adapt to new realities.

Homeowners in Colorado are replacing their turf with rock and native plants and grasses, to save water and save money on water wills.