NewGrass is excited to be featured in an upcoming magazine supplement to four Northern California newspapers offering water-saving suggestions for landscaping in a time of ongoing drought.

One suggestion for water-wise landscaping offered by Gold Country Media reporter Jonathan Brines is to replace “real lawn with a polyethylene turf.” Brines then focuses on NewGrass artificial lawn, which has blades of 100 percent polyethylene.

Brines points out that NewGrass Rye and Fescue products “mimic natural grass thatching” and that it “feels real, will never need to be watered, holds up in the heat or cold and is totally recyclable. The pad is 90-percent-soy based which is natural and supports farmers.”

Brines interviewed NewGrass CEO Greg Goehner for the article after learning about the five-year-old company during an online search, reviewing its website and watching a video of an episode of Bob Vila, the nationally syndicated TV home renovation and improvement show, that featured a NewGrass installation.

NewGrass is sold and installed internationally only through a network of qualified, properly licensed representatives, such as NewGrass Landscape & Design, which serves the same communities as does Gold Country Media.

Homes will be included in four newspapers that Gold Country Media publishes and distributes in the Sacramento area – specifically Roseville, Granite Bay, El Dorado Hills and Folsom. The magazine is scheduled for publication the week of June 17.

The article notes that three years of drought in Northern California have forced cities such as Folsom and Roseville, which depend on water from Folsom Lake, to impose 20-percent conservation reductions on their residents.

Some cities, including Sacramento, have imposed fines and now restrict watering to certain days of the week. Other cities, such as Roseville, offer rebates for removing and replacing water-thirsty sod grass and plants that are not drought-tolerant. Roseville’s Cash for Grass program pays homeowners $1 for every square foot of lawn they convert to water-smart landscaping, including artificial grass.

Sadly, Brines also notes that despite the reported impacts of global warming, ongoing drought conditions and increasing water demands from a growing population, Californians have an addiction to water.

With Southern California in its third year of short water supplies, Los Angeles on June 1 will levy higher water rates on consumers who don’t cut their water use and will restrict sprinkler use for all customers.

“Significant water conservation is imperative immediately as we are experiencing both a natural drought and a regulatory drought due to restrictions placed on the importation of water from the (Sacramento/San Joaquin) Delta,” said David Nahai, CEO and General Manager of the Los Angles Department of Water and Power (LADWP).

Beginning June 1, the department will implement what are called “shortage year rates” for all LADWP customers. Sprinkler use will be restricted to Mondays and Thursdays.

The department also continues to promote water conservation with various incentives, including its Residential Water Conservation Rebate Program. In cooperation with the Southern California Water District, the department offers a rebate of $0.80 per square foot for installations of artificial grass, including NewGrass synthetic lawn. (However, the program has been so successful, that refunds are available only by requesting them in advance, and the program has no more funds for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30).

“It’s good news and bad news about the rebate program – good it was so successful, bad that they didn’t budget more money for it,” said Larry Reno, district manager for NewGrass Landscape & Design, a California distributor of NewGrass, the eco-friendly and environmentally aware artificial turf solution.

“But if anything, the restrictions that start June 1 – the higher rates if you don’t conserve and the limited sprinkling days – will bring even more awareness to the need to conserve water and considering alternative landscaping methods to do that and still have a great lawn to enjoy,” Reno said.

The water district’s “shortage year rates” are designed to send a strong signal to water customers to conserve or pay a lot more for every gallon of water they use beyond their set allotment. Under shortage year rates, the current Tier 1 rate, or “standard allotment” that each customer receives per billing cycle, will be reduced by 15 percent. A customer’s allotment is based on number of family members, heat zone, lot size and season of the year.

Customers whose monthly usage after June 1 is not at or below their shortage year rate (at least 15 percent below their Tier 1 allotment) will pay a “premium rate” for every gallon over their shortage year rate. Customers already conserving 15 percent of their Tier 1 allotment will not be affected by the water-conservation rates. Customers who reduce by more than 15 percent will actually see their bills go down, the district said. Finally, customers who currently exceed their regular standard allotment and therefore routinely pay Tier 2 rates – and who do not significantly cut their water use under shortage year rates – will see their water bills increase quite substantially, the district said.

More information about LADWP’s water rates can be found on the Department web site at www.ladwp.com/waterrates.