https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-08-13/editorial-drought-nonfunctional-grass * Business * California * Climate & Environment * Entertainment & Arts * En Espanol * Food * Housing & Homelessness * Image * Lifestyle * Obituaries * Opinion * Politics * Science * Sports * Travel & Experiences * World & Nation * All Sections * _________________ * Newsletters * Photography * Podcasts * Video * _________________ * About Us + About Us + Archives + Company News + eNewspaper + For the Record + Got a Tip? + L.A. Times Careers + L.A. Times Store + L. A. Times Studios + News App: Apple IOS + News App: Google Play + Newsroom Directory + Public Affairs + Rights, Clearance & Permissions + Short Docs * Advertising + Place an Ad + Classifieds + Coupons + People on the Move + Find/Post Jobs + Local Ads Marketplace + Media Kit: Why the L.A. Times? + Hot Property Sections + Place an Open House + Sotheby's International Realty * Bestcovery + Compare * B2B Publishing * Business Visionaries * Hot Property * Crossword & Games * L.A. Times Events * L.A. Times Store * Subscriptions + Manage Subscription + EZPAY + Delivery Issue + eNewspaper + Students & Educators + Subscribe + Subscriber Terms + Gift Subscription Terms * Special Supplements + Best of the Southland + Escapes and Experiences + Healthy Living + Las Vegas Guide + Philanthropy Copyright (c) 2023, Los Angeles Times | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | CA Notice of Collection | Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information Sections * California * Entertainment * Sports * Food * Climate * Image * Opinion * | * Bestcovery * Coupons * Crossword * eNewspaper Tap to enable a layout that focuses on the article. Focus mode Show Search [ ] Search Query Submit Search Advertisement Opinion Editorial: Say goodbye to grass that's only there for looks. California can't afford to waste water A rock wall along Lake Mead shows a thick ring of lighter color once covered by water. The "bathtub ring" at Hoover Dam -- pictured in in 2021 -- reveals an alarming drop in water levels at Lake Mead in Nevada. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) By The Times Editorial Board Aug. 13, 2023 5 AM PT * Facebook * Twitter * Show more sharing options ShareClose extra sharing options * Facebook * Twitter * LinkedIn * Email * Copy Link URLCopied! * Print California was so dry and its water supply so precarious by May 2022 that the State Water Resources Control Board issued an emergency order: No drinkable water could be used to irrigate grass that had no function other than to look nice. The regulation does not apply to residential lawns, although they were already turning brown due to local restrictions on sprinkler use. Lake Mead, NV - June 29: A law enforcement boat patrols amid signs of the drought's effect on Lake Mead. Lake Mead is at its lowest level in history since it was filled 85 years ago. The ongoing drought has made a severe impact on Lake Mead and a milestone in the Colorado River's crisis. High temperatures, increased contractual demands for water and diminishing supply are shrinking the flow into Lake Mead. Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the U.S., stretching 112 miles long, a shoreline of 759 miles, a total capacity of 28,255,000 acre-feet, and a maximum depth of 532 feet. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Opinion Editorial: Colorado River water deal gives California another reprieve. For now An unusually wet winter and federal largesse helped create a short-term Colorado River accord and gave California time to prepare for the hammer drop in 2026. Advertisement It does apply to all purely ornamental lawns -- "nonfunctional turf," in regulatory parlance -- at commercial, industrial and institutional sites, such as shopping centers and corporate headquarters. That order was recently extended for another year. Lake Mead, NV - June 28: Tourists view the Hoover Dam and the "bathtub ring" that is visible at low water levels and is the result of the deposition of minerals on previously submerged surfaces, Lake Mead, Nevada Monday, June 28, 2021. Lake Mead is at its lowest level in history since it was filled 85 years ago, Monday, June 28, 2021. The ongoing drought has made a severe impact on Lake Mead and a milestone in the Colorado River's crisis. High temperatures, increased contractual demands for water and diminishing supply are shrinking the flow into Lake Mead. Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the U.S., stretching 112 miles long, a shoreline of 759 miles, a total capacity of 28,255,000 acre-feet, and a maximum depth of 532 feet. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Opinion Editorial: An unfair plan to cut California's use of Colorado River water California's six partners in Colorado River water distribution have come up with a disingenuous proposal to use evaporation for short-term cuts. Las Vegas, which is much drier than Los Angeles, went a step further in 2021. Or rather, the state of Nevada did on the city's behalf -- by ordering the removal of nonfunctional turf. It's the only region in the nation with that kind of permanent ban. It's time for California to follow Nevada's lead and permanently remove decorative turf. To be clear, we're talking only about nonfunctional turf. That means grass that no one walks on, except to mow it. It doesn't apply to playing fields, picnic grounds, parks, meeting areas, schools, cemeteries or any place where people gather, play, loll, visit or frolic. It won't keep anyone from feeling wet grass under their bare toes. Instead, think fenced areas with "keep off the grass" signs, plus street medians, mall landscaping and the like. Advertisement Lake Mead, NV - June 29: Kayakers make their way through a shallow stretch of Lake Mead at the closed Boulder Harbor boat ramp, due to drought, at sunset Tuesday, June 29, 2021. Lake Mead is at its lowest level in history since it was filled 85 years ago. The ongoing drought has made a severe impact on Lake Mead and a milestone in the Colorado River's crisis. High temperatures, increased contractual demands for water and diminishing supply are shrinking the flow into Lake Mead. Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the U.S., stretching 112 miles long, a shoreline of 759 miles, a total capacity of 28,255,000 acre-feet, and a maximum depth of 532 feet. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Opinion Editorial: We'll have to ask you to back away from the spigot, California After two years of deprivation, Southern Californians are being asked to do without something else: outdoor water. Considering the dire condition of our supplies, the restrictions are quite reasonable. And again, it wouldn't require homeowners to remove their lawns, although they really ought to. It wouldn't apply to residences -- although local municipal and water agency limits on sprinklers do. And it would apply only to use of potable (drinkable) water. With all those exceptions, what's left? The restriction couldn't actually save all that much water, could it? PARADISE, CALIFORNIA--NOV. 15, 2018--An ariel view of Paradise off of Clark Road on Nov. 15, 2018. The Camp Fire has burned more than 7,000 structures in Paradise. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times) Opinion Editorial: There is no drought If 'drought' means a period of dry years followed by a return to the norm, California is not in drought. The current climate is the norm. You'd be surprised. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California estimates that there are 218,000 acres of turf in its service area and that 23% of it is nonfunctional -- and just for looks. Figure 1.9 million gallons of water per acre per year, do the math, and it comes out to nearly 98 billion gallons. That's enough water to serve about 900,000 households a year. The MWD board recommended imposing a permanent nonfunctional turf ban last October. It's co-sponsoring Assembly Bill 1572 by Assemblymember Laura Friedman (D-Burbank), along with the Natural Resources Defense Council and Heal the Bay, which would do just that. The giant water wholesaler and those environmental groups are rarely on the same page on legislation. SALINAS, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 13: In an aerial view, a home is seen submerged in floodwater as the Salinas River begins to overflow its banks on January 13, 2023 in Salinas, California. Several atmospheric river events continue to pound California with record rainfall and high winds. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Opinion Editorial: Restore California's floodplains to capture more stormwater, protect human life Letting excess stormwater inundate carefully managed low-lying areas would be good for California's natural ecosystems and a large, thirsty population at risk from water shortages and flooding. A companion bill, AB 1573, would require much of the area now covered by nonfunctional turf to eventually be replaced with native California plants to restore sustainable biodiversity and support wildlife that is under increasing stress as the state becomes hotter and more arid. California has one of the nation's highest rates of species at risk of extinction, and restoring a bit of the native ecosystem could improve their chances. Limiting thirsty, nonusable landscaping is doubly important right now because California, Nevada and Arizona are negotiating for shares of the shrinking Colorado River and are trying to make their case to the referee, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, that they are doing all they can to make each gallon count ahead of the final 2026 decision. Reducing water use on nonfunctional turf is something all three states in the river's lower basin (and to some extent the upper basin states as well -- Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico) will soon have to do if they are to survive. An elderly woman peeks from an open door of her car, which is sitting in a flooded area. Opinion Editorial: The drought is over now, right? (Spoiler alert: No) Even as California gets yet another atmospheric river blast and snowpack nears twice the average for this date, we're still in grave danger of running out of water. The requirement under AB 1572 would kick in in stages, beginning in 2026, giving property owners and landscapers plenty of time to adjust. Some critics correctly note that limiting urban consumption won't be enough to solve our supply problem and that greater savings are to be found in wasteful agricultural practices like growing alfalfa in the desert for export. That's true, but it's not an either/or proposition. Urban areas will be better positioned to put pressure on ag use when their own water use is tightened. No crop is more wasteful or more useless than turf that's never harvested and never feeds, clothes or fuels anyone or anything, while producing no revenue. Corcoran, CA, Thursday, March 30, 2023 - The El Rico Pipe Yard on 10th Ave., remains submerged as the resurgent Tulare Lake continues to expand. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times) Opinion Editorial: Drought and flood, California's double whammy Tulare Lake threatens to drown us while the Colorado River leaves us dry and thirsty. Welcome to the new California. Most of the arguments against elimination of nonfunctional turf are specious. Yes, patches of watered but nonusable lawn help combat heat islands amid urban concrete, asphalt and steel, but so does less-thirsty vegetation that doesn't have to be irrigated after its first year or maintained with fume-spewing power mowers. Yes, huge, empty lawns watered with sprinklers may make us feel like we're on a damp English estate in a Jane Austen novel. But we're not. We're in 21st century California -- increasingly arid but still paradise if we change our ways to be more in line with what nature offers. OpinionEditorials Newsletter A cure for the common opinion Get thought-provoking perspectives with our weekly newsletter. Enter email address[ ] Sign Me Up You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. The Times Editorial Board Follow Us * Twitter * Email The Los Angeles Times' editorial board determines the positions of The Times as an institution. It operates separately from the newsroom. You can read more about the board's mission and its members at About The Times Editorial Board. Show Comments More From the Los Angeles Times * PASADENA, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 1, 2013: A 2013 Chevrolet Volt extended range electric vehicle being charged at CALSTART in Pasadena on August, 1, 2013. The car gets 40 miles on a full charge using a level 2 charger. After the 40 miles the car switches over to gasoline to extend its range. A full charge on a level 2 charger takes 4 hours. 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