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Jessica Schwartz
A Vegas Ban On “Useless” Grass? What It Really Means
Is there such a thing as “useless” grass? Officials from the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA), which serves a drought–prone area, think there is. On April 5, SNWA lobbyist Andy Belanger asked lawmakers from the Las Vegas Assembly Committee on Natural Resources to mandate the removal of “unused” turf by the end of 2026. Within a few days, headlines across the country reported the shocking news: Las Vegas seeks to ban ornamental grass. The proposed idea on phasing out certain categories of grass permanently would reportedly be the first law of its kind in the country. “The scale of this is pretty unprecedented in terms of a full ban on this nonfunctional turf,” John Berggren, a water policy analyst at Western Resource Advocates, told the Associated Press (AP). But it also isn’t quite as draconian as it might initially appear. Justin Jones, a Clark County commissioner who serves on the water authority’s board, also commented to the AP, “To be clear, we are not coming after your average homeowner’s backyard.” But grass in the middle of a parkway, where no one walks: “That’s dumb.” Current Conservation Measures According to the SNWA, the Las Vegas Valley gets about 90% of its water from the Colorado River, which is facing the worst drought in the river basin’s recorded history due to below average snowfall (and subsequent runoff) for several years. The water level of Lake Mead, one of the River’s primary water storage reservoirs and the source of most of the ...
A Vegas Ban On “Useless” Grass? What It Really Means
Is there such a thing as “useless” grass? Officials from the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA), which serves a drought–prone area, think there is. On April 5, SNWA lobbyist Andy Belanger asked lawmakers from the Las Vegas Assembly Committee on Natural Resources to mandate the removal of “unused” turf by the end of 2026. Within a few days, headlines across the country reported the shocking news: Las Vegas seeks to ban ornamental grass. The proposed idea on phasing out certain categories of grass permanently would reportedly be the first law of its kind in the country. “The scale of this is pretty unprecedented in terms of a full ban on this nonfunctional turf,” John Berggren, a water policy analyst at Western Resource Advocates, told the Associated Press (AP). But it also isn’t quite as draconian as it might initially appear. Justin Jones, a Clark County commissioner who serves on the water authority’s board, also commented to the AP, “To be clear, we are not coming after your average homeowner’s backyard.” But grass in the middle of a parkway, where no one walks: “That’s dumb.” Current Conservation Measures According to the SNWA, the Las Vegas Valley gets about 90% of its water from the Colorado River, which is facing the worst drought in the river basin’s recorded history due to below average snowfall (and subsequent runoff) for several years. The water level of Lake Mead, one of the River’s primary water storage reservoirs and the source of most of the ...
