Getting Paid to Remove Your Lawn? You can be in Alameda County
The Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency has started a program called “Lawns be Gone!” This program provides rebates to customers with specific criteria to replace lawns with drought resistant landscapes. In order to be eligible, one must be a customer in a participating agency. These agencies include:
Alameda County
California Water Service Company
City of San Bruno
and more. See this link for complete listing of participating districts:
http://bawsca.org/docs/LBG_Participants_Feb2011.pdf
The program includes clearly stated terms and conditions that specify the type of landscape replacement to lawns is acceptable. Additionally there is a wealth of resources for courses on drought resistant planting, mulching; as well as data on invasive plants. This link explains the process and has details on resources for more information:
http://bawsca.org/water-conservation/residential-water-conservation-programs/lawn-be-gone/
Rebates will be issued on a first come, first serve basis. They are based on the number of square feet of turf replaced. The program is effective through June 30, 2011
Sounds good!
Nice opportunity for residential customers to convert lawn areas to more sustainable landscapes, thus seeing the benefits of reduced inputs of water, fertilizers, chemicals and equipment fuel. Opportunities also exist to move their lawn care practices to an organic approach and improving water management through the installation of high efficiency irrigation nozzles and by converting conventional irrigation controllers to Smart or weather based products.