After three years of drought, Southern California is learning to go green, and a big reason is that homeowners are switching to NewGrass artificial lawns, according to city figures and news reports.

City figures show that the biggest reason for water conservation has been the efforts of residential customers, not business or industry, according to USA Today.

For many homeowners, that has meant brown, dormant or dying turf grass lawns because of less watering. For many others, however, conservation has created greener, more attractive lawns year-round because they have switched to artificial grass, such as NewGrass.

“We’ve said since our inception that installing an artificial grass lawn is a lifestyle choice and a choice to conserve water and be eco-friendly,” said Larry Reno, district manager for NewGrass Landscape & Design, based in Southern California and the largest distributor of NewGrass synthetic lawns. “We’re pleased that people are turning to synthetic grass as an environmental choice.”

Reno has been installing proprietary NewGrass throughout California at properties ranging from small townhomes to multimillion-dollar residences. He said that in addition to wanting to retain a green lawn during a drought, an increasing number of NewGrass customers are appreciating the return on investment of a fake grass compared with the expense of installing and maintaining turf grass.

Traditional turf lawns such as Kentucky bluegrass, fescue and Bermuda grass drink up as much as 60% of a homeowner’s water consumption. Synthetic lawns not only don’t require water (except an occasional spray to clean them), they also keep the groundwater safe and reduce maintenance expenses because they don’t require pesticides or fertilizers.

A NewGrass artificial grass lawn installed in Southern California can be expected to show a return on investment in less that 4½ years, based with data from actual customers, Reno said.

Restrictions on water use in Los Angeles-area homes and businesses imposed in 2009 have produced a 15% savings, according to USA Today. Los Angeles leads the way with a more than 18% reduction, which means the city used less water in 2009 than it did 25 years ago, despite adding 1 million residents during that time, according to the city’s Department of Water and Power.

“The region has really responded,” Jeffrey Kightlinger, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, USA Today.

David Freeman, general manager of the L.A. Department of Water and Power, told USA Today that restricted lawn watering was “the main saving measure.”

Since June, Los Angeles has permitted lawn sprinklers to run only on Mondays and Thursdays, for no more than 15 minutes a day, and never between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., when evaporation is greatest. The restrictions are enforced by more than a dozen “water police” who patrol for sprinkler scofflaws and follow tips by residents tattling on water-wasteful neighbors.

Those water cops have investigated 17,000 cases since June and issued more than 6,000 citations, and repeat offenders face fines of $100 to $600 and potentially having their water shut off, L.A. water department spokeswoman Jane Galbraith says. The city raised fees for customers whose monthly usage exceeds a fixed allotment based on historical use and family size.

In areas served by the City of San Diego, watering was meanwhile reduced on Nov. 1 to seven minutes per watering station per assigned day, down from the 10 minutes that had been allowed since June 1, in response to an unprecedented water crisis, according to the city’s Water Emergency Information and Resources web page. (The restrictions do not apply to drip, micro-irrigation, stream rotor, rotary heads, hose end sprinklers with timers or valves operated by a weather-based irrigation controller.)

Local rebates for synthetic grass installation have also spurred awareness and action. On September 21, a limited number of rebates became available through the SoCal Water$mart program for Southern California residential water customers. Since September 18, rebate reservations are no longer required.

Los Angeles soon may start paying some of the cost of replacing grass lawns. The water department has proposed a “cash for grass” program that would provide cash or rebates to residents who replace their turf grass for drought-friendly synthetic lawn. The incentive could be over $1 per square foot of grass removed.

Tags: artificial lawns, california water crisis, los angeles, metropolitan water district, rebate program, san diego, souther california, water conservation