Fresno considers plan to "buy" lawns from homeowners to save water

Would you sell your lawn to the city to save water and cut your utility bill? Would you buy a house with no lawn or with only water-stingy native plants?

In Fresno, Calif., both are possibilities as officials look at ways to conserve water despite urban growth. Those ideas, along with more traditional conservation methods, are part of an urban water management plan the City Council approved in August.

The plan outlines conservation goals for the city and offers ideas to attain those goals -- such as lawn buy-backs.

It doesn't detail how some of those ideas would work. But the plan "shows us where we are, and where we're headed," said Garth Gaddy, Fresno's assistant director of public utilities.

The plan looks at Fresno's current water usage and predicts how growth will affect water resources through 2030, when the city's population is expected to reach at least 760,000. A second plan -- the Metropolitan Water Resources Management Plan -- looks even further, forecasting Fresno's water needs through 2060.

There is no penalty if the city doesn't follow its plan. But homeowners will see higher water bills if they choose to not conserve after meters are installed citywide by 2013, Gaddy said.

Unlike most California cities, Fresno does not charge homeowners for the volume of water they use. However, an agreement with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation requires the city to begin charging a metered rate by 2010.

Conservation will be a major part of Fresno's water future, Gaddy said. Fresno residents use an average of just over 300 gallons of water every day, compared to about 240 in Clovis, 11 miles away. Clovis requires residents to pay a metered rate.

"We're offering a lot of carrots with incentives and different programs," Gaddy said.

Fresno gets its water from two sources: surface water delivered through canals from Millerton and Pine Flat reservoirs, and ground water pumped by 250 wells citywide. The plan calls for more aggressive management of both.

"Surface water is really the key to a balanced water budget," Gaddy said. "It needs to be used to offset ground-water pumping, and for recharge."

Gaddy said the city is pumping more water out of the aquifer than it puts back in through recharge basins, like those at a large complex of ponds near Fresno Yosemite International Airport. The plan calls for buying more land for recharge basins.

Earlier this year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called for California cities to cut water usage by 20 percent by 2020. Gaddy said it was a reasonable goal for Fresno -- especially with water meters.

"We know we'll see a big usage drop initially, but it will average out at about 10 percent or 15 percent per household," once metering is required, Gaddy said. "... I'd like to go further than that."

Gaddy said Fresno could conserve more drinkable water by irrigating landscape with reclaimed water. That water, treated less extensively than drinking water, is safe for any nonfood crop, Gaddy said.

Reclaimed water already is used to irrigate landscape in parts of Clovis and in Fresno's Copper River development.

Even programs to buy back lawns from interested homeowners could achieve major water savings, Gaddy said. Fresno's peak water usage during the winter, when most residential sprinkler systems are shut off, is 75 million gallons a day. In the summer, it's more than 250 million gallons.

Those "cash for grass" type programs are growing in popularity, said Jennifer Persike, public affairs director for the Association of California Water Agencies.

"It's absolutely a viable idea," Persike said. "And one that is catching on as people realize that outside landscape irrigation accounts for 50 percent of residential water use."

Landscaping changes can save water, as can the use of plants suited to the climate, said Anne Clemons, a board member for the Clovis Botanical Garden.

Clemons said plants native to climates like Fresno's can easily replace water-thirsty plants or trees, such as redwoods. "I love redwoods, too," Clemons said. "But ... other plants would be better and use much less water."

Gaddy said that because so much water was used for landscaping, he could see the city paying $9 or $10 a square foot to homeowners who sign contracts saying they won't reinstall lawns.

Incentive programs, lawn buybacks and additional infrastructure for recharge and reclaimed water use will help Fresno meet its conservation goals, Gaddy said. But there is a cost.

"Even to reduce water waste in areas irrigated by the city will cost money, with extra staff, meters and new plants," Gaddy said, "but we think it's all worth it."

(Contact Denny Boyles at dboyles(at)fresnobee.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)