South Bay residents replace lawns during drought
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (KGO) -- With fines and surcharges now in place for excessive use, residents of Silicon Valley are flooding their water district with applications for turf removal rebates. They get 2 percent back if they follow all the prescribed rules, which can cover as much as a third to a half of a typical home.
"We've got stacks and stacks of paperwork that you can see," said water conservation specialist Ashley Carter. "We have a lot of people really interested and so it is increasing the amount of time that it takes to process each one of these individually."
So far this year, 760 rebates have been issued and 800 more are being processed.
Two years ago, 160,000 square feet of turf was converted. It topped 1 million square feet last year. That same amount has already been converted so far this year, putting 2015 on track to reach 2 million square feet.
VIDEO: Bay Area residents brace for mandatory water cuts
While individuals can monitor their water use by reading meters and their bills, compliance on a citywide basis will lag by a month or two. For example, the state water resources agency will be releasing April statistics on Tuesday.
"It takes time to do things like turf replacement and do gray water upgrades," said Valley Water District Board President Gary Kremen. "And just the change in behavior, you can't do it in a day, it takes time. So the good news, I think, is even next month we're going to see some returns from the cumulative education we've given people."
Drought-resistant yards have become a matter of pride in Los Altos. Its 32 percent mandatory cutback is one of the highest in the Bay Area. But there's a community spirit there that everyone will do their part.
"People are very supportive of what needs to happen," said Los Altos resident Erik Toomre. "I'm watching people take out lawns and put in bark and I think we're all quite aware of what needs to happen, so we want to make it happen."
To learn how much your city is required to cut back, click here. For water rebate information from Bay Area water suppliers, click here. And click here for tips on how to conserve water. To learn more about how to report water wasters #WhereYouLive, click here.
For full coverage on the drought, click here.
