This homeowner capitalized on the last round of rebates and this abundant landscape relies on very little no city water after only a year.
If you’ve been waiting to redevelop your landscape, and save thousands of gallons of water by removing your lawn, until rebates were reinstated, now is your chance! Socalwatersmart.com just reopened their rebates for turf removal. The latest caveat is that you need to include rainwater capture, which is always a great idea! CatchingH2O has the solutions for how to maximize your landscape investment by including rainwater and greywater!
Here are some great facts:
- 500 sq ft of lawn uses about 10,000 gallons of water a year.
- A 1000 square foot roof sheds about 6000 gallons a year. This is great water for everything you might consider replacing your lawn with. If you can get this water to soak into the newly planted area regularly instead of running off, using earthworks, and if you can store some of it in a tank (500 gallons plus) for the dry season), you can plant a lot of stuff and not use a lot of water!
- If we can route your greywater out to the area where your lawn will be removed, you may be able to capitalize on 50-100 gallons of water a week additionally. This water is great for fruit trees and plenty of other non edible shrubs, flowers, vines.
- City of San Diego residents can capitalize on both the $2.75 for the county and another $1 for the city!
- Don’t forget about your $350-$750 in rainwater harvesting rebates for any tanks/cisterns you install.
- You can learn more about rainwater harvesting for free in August at City Famer’s Nursery, where we will be helping you understand the ins and outs of maximizing your rebates and Return on Investment.
- Rebates for turf removal go fast! Sign up for a consultation today with our team to help you maximize your opportunity!
By designing this project right from the start, we were able to create an edible, pollinator friendly, and beautiful landscape that relies only on rainwater and greywater!
The best way to maximize this opportunity is to use an integrated approach. Think of it as drought proofing, while creating resilient communities!
- Contour the landscape to catch and soak in water.
- Design your landscape around your existing water resources (surface runoff, rainwater storage, greywater) and plant the water first!
- Improve your soil using mulch and appropriate plants
- Group your plants with like water needs around the appropriate resource (rainwater, greywater, zero water, efficient irrigation using drip from municiple sources, handwatering sources).