LOS ANGELES TURF CONVERSION PROGRAM

Los Angeles, USA
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power

Sixty percent of the water in Los Angeles is imported from other regions, and seventy percent of water usage is outdoors in the city, used to water lawns and swimming pools. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) offers a Turf Replacement Program, including Hands-on Workshops (HOWs) that teach constituents how to remove turf, regrade soil to capture rainwater, and the step-by-step process to create sustainable landscapes in their own yards. In addition to the workshops, the city offers residents $3 per square foot to remove their turf up to 5,000 square feet, and replace the turf with native plants as well as California Friendly landscaping, another LADWP program that creates plant lists and planting typologies, including gardens and lawn alternatives, that use less irrigated water and require less management than turf lawns. The rebates have strict requirements beyond the removal of turf, including planting 3 plants per 100 square feet of area, a stormwater retention feature, no hardscape within the area, and the replacement or modification of overhead spray sprinklers. Instead, microspray systems or rotating nozzles are used for landscape watering to create a more efficient landscape when irrigation is required. The program is on its second iteration. The first program was offered during a drought period from 2008-2014, when the LADWP offered $2 for every square foot of lawn removed, but did not require landscaping, only turf removal. The original program was dominated by large landscaping companies, while the current iteration of the program focuses on teaching homeowners how to manage their natural plantings beyond putting them in the ground.

2015 - ongoing
459 acres
0 - 400 feet above sea level

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