Water is our most valuable natural resource, yet it is also the of the most squandered of resources. As a result, many local governments in the country have begun to impose limitations on water consumption, and they are pushing citizens to save water in any manner they can, including by giving rebates. The most efficient strategy to cut your water use is to get rid of your thirsty natural grass.
So, what can be a viable alternative?
Whether you’re a homeowner hoping for rain in drought-stricken Southern California, or you live somewhere that hasn’t been touched by the drought that has engulfed most of the Western United States in recent years, artificial grass has a lot to offer in terms of water conservation.
To get a better idea of how much water you can save using artificial grass, we must first look at how much water is utilized to irrigate natural grass lawns.
Usage of Water to Maintain a Natural Lawn
According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Watersense Initiative, landscape irrigation accounts for nearly a third of all household water use in the United States. This percentage reaches over 60% of home water used for gardening in dry locations like the Southwest United States (including South California). To make matters worse, incorrect watering techniques are thought to be responsible for up to 50% of landscape irrigation water loss.
The US Geological Survey (USGS), which is part of the Department of the Interior, oversees the USGS National Water-Use Information Program. California consumes more water than any other state, more water is used for irrigation than any other application, and each Californian uses an average of 181 gallons of water each day, according to the most recent data.
The Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) has t has a lot to say about the amount of water required to irrigate natural grass fields. A standard lawn of 1,000 sq feet requires roughly 35,000 gallons of water per year. The ACWA, on the other hand, estimates that customers over-irrigate landscaping by up to 60%, resulting in a house lawn using up to 75,000 gallons of water per year.
Understanding How Much Water You Use
Even if your town does not currently have water scarcity, this amount of water is nothing to laugh at. The average American household uses 660,000 gallons of water each year, which is nearly enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool. This involves not just watering, but also drinking and bathing.
Water is essential not just in the lives of homeowners, but also in practically every area of manufacturing, farming, and culture. If you’re having difficulties visualizing 660,000 gallons, it’s the same amount of water necessary to produce:
- Sixteen automobiles, including tires
- A total of 4,000 loaves of bread
- Watermelons totaling 6,000
- 5,000 eggs
- Steel weighing ten tons
And this isn’t just speculative because of widespread water constraints, the expense of producing and agricultural commodities at higher water rates is passed on to the customer, resulting in higher costs.
How Much Water Can You Save with Artificial Grass?
A few factors influence how much water you may save by installing synthetic turf in your yard. To begin with, it is determined by the yard being replaced. For instance, replacing a yard with plants that consume less water than replacing a yard with plants that require more water. To further comprehend this, consider the amount of water you will save by simply installing artificial grass. Because lawns consume the most water in residential landscaping, this comparison will show homeowners where they can save the most water.
The second factor that impacts how much water you can save is the size of your grass. Replacement of larger portions of natural grass saves more water than replacement of smaller lawns for obvious reasons.
Californians use roughly 40,000 to 70,000 gallons of water per year to irrigate a thousand sq foot natural grass lawn, according to the data we reviewed earlier. We are directly in line with the Southern Nevada Water Authority, which claims that homeowners can save up to 50 gallons of water per year for every sq foot of natural grass they replace with synthetic turf if we choose a slightly conservative number between these two and estimate that people use an average of 50,000 gallons of water per year to water their grass.
This means that replacing a thousand sq feet of real grass with artificial turf may save over 50,000 gallons of water each year. Given that artificial grass may last up to 20 years in a home setting, you could potentially save 1,000,000 gallons of water throughout the life of your artificial turf.
Conclusion – You Save a Lot of Money
Saving this much water is, of course, a good thing for the environment, but you may also save a lot of money on your water bill. Water rates vary by municipality, but we can estimate the possible savings by looking at the water rates in California at the time of this writing.
Water costs about $1.5 per 1,000 gallons in California, and sewage costs $4.26 per 1,000 gallons, for a total of $5.76 per 1,000 gallons of water that comes out of the faucet. That indicates that providing one inch of water to a 100′ x 100′ yard costs more than $12.00 if you have a separate irrigation meter, and $39.00 if you don’t. Watering your lawn once a week throughout the summer will cost you close to $50, or $156 every month. This means you will end up saving more than $18,000 every year.
With so much at risk, both in terms of gallons of water saved and money saved, it only makes sense to join the thousands of Americans who have already made the move to artificial grass around the country. Your checkbook, as well as the West Coast’s depleting reservoirs, will thank you! Contact us and we’ll design a beautiful artificial lawn for you.