Modesto Landscapes‘ Paul Helen has a unique offer for drought-conscious Californians: if homeowners tear out water-intensive grass on their lawns and replace it with a drought-resistant alternative, Helen’s company will provide the switch for free.
“Obviously you save a fortune on the water bill, you’re doing something good for the community and the planet,” Helen told local NBC affiliate KCRA. “And it doesn’t have to look like an Arizona landscape, there’s other ways to simplify your yard and cut down on water bills.”
Modesto resident Mervin Warren took up Helen on his offer, the 14th customer to do so since Helen began offering the unique deal last summer.
“This is not a drought that we can predict that’s over with tomorrow, or next year, or ten years from now” Warren told KCRA. “So this is the sort of things I think more and more people ought to be doing, quite frankly.”
Warren ripped out the grass on his lawn and replaced it with drought-resistant plants and rocks. His replacement landscape runs on a drip water system that uses a tiny fraction of the water his previous lawn consumed. And it’s not just water that Warren is saving; Helen told KCRA that Warren likely saved around $2,000 by making the switch.
In a Los Angeles Times op-ed last week, NASA senior water scientist Jay Famiglietti warned that California has just one year’s supply of water left in its reservoirs as a result of the state’s punishing four-year-long drought.
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