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Lawmakers in US Want to Pay People to Remove Grass

时间:2022-04-12 08:04:56

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Lawmakers in US Want to Pay People to Remove Grass

Lawmakers in the American state of Colorado are looking for easy and effective ways to save water.

"There's not any more water out there and what water is out there is becoming really expensive. So, let's look at how we're using it now," said John Berggren. He is a water policy expert with Western Resource Advocates, a non-profit group.

Berggren's organization supports an effort by Colorado's lawmakers to launch a statewide turf replacement1 program. Turf is land covered with grass. The program aims to pay home and business owners to replace their grass with other plants and landscapes for the state's dry climate.

The legislation would be a way to deal with demand for the state's water, said Colorado state representative Marc Catlin. He spoke2 at a committee meeting in February. Catlin added that the replacement would be completely voluntary.

Supporters say similar programs across the west have saved billions of liters of water. Property owners have been paid from a few cents to a few dollars for every square meter of turf they replace.

About 19 Colorado cities, water services and water districts already have turf replacement programs. The legislation would offer the same amount of money for those programs.

The bill would also help local governments launch programs of their own. People who live in areas without such a program could make a request directly to the state for money.

Zane Marshall is director of resources and buildings for the Southern Nevada Water Authority. He said that some grassy3 places, like parks and sports fields, are functional4. That means they serve a purpose.

Turf replacement programs, like the one in the Las Vegas Valley, center on lawns meant to look nice.

Marshall said that in Las Vegas one tenth of a square meter of grass can use 276 liters of water every year. Replacing that grass with native plants and landscaping can cut that to 82 liters or less.

The Las Vegas Valley has always been dry. The desert area averages 10.7 centimeters of rainfall a year. The people who live there take 90 percent of their water from the Colorado River. The rest comes from an underground water source in the area.

Water officials launched the area's Water Smart Landscapes Rebate5 program in 1999, Marshall said. The program offered residents $4 for every square meter of lawn that they replaced.

Valley residents, apartment managers and business owners took the government's money and replaced their grasses with rocks, Nevada agave and desert marigolds. Water officials increased the offer to $10 for each square meter in 2003, then $20 in 2007. Now water officials offer $30 for each square meter up to 929 square meters, Marshall said.

Property owners in the Las Vegas Valley have removed more than 18.5 million square meters of turf, Marshall said. That has saved about 741 billion liters of water since the program started, he added.

In Colorado, the city of Greeley's turf replacement program, called Life after Lawn, is younger but still successful, said Water Conservation Manager Dena Egenhoff. Since launching in 2018, the program has helped property owners save an estimated 145 million liters of water.

"They lower their water bills, and they can still have a beautiful landscape no matter what climate conditions are now or in the future," she said.

The turf replacement program in Castle Rock has also saved millions of liters. The city has reduced residential6 water use by 7 percent since starting its replacement program in 2009, said water efficiency supervisor7 Rick Schultz. Non-residential properties became able to get government money in 2019. Since then, water use has been reduced by about 29 percent, Schultz said.

Representatives of the Colorado Water Conservation Board, the Colorado Cattlemen's Association and the Colorado River District support the state bill.

If the measure becomes law, the Colorado Water Conservation Board would have to develop a statewide turf replacement program by July 2023.

Words in This Story

expensive –adj. costing a lot of money

landscape –n. an area of land that has a particular quality or appearance; an area of land around a house that has been designed to look appealing

resident –n. a person who lives in a particular place


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 replacement UVxxM     
n.取代,替换,交换;替代品,代用品
参考例句:
  • We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
  • They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。
2 spoke XryyC     
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说
参考例句:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
3 grassy DfBxH     
adj.盖满草的;长满草的
参考例句:
  • They sat and had their lunch on a grassy hillside.他们坐在长满草的山坡上吃午饭。
  • Cattle move freely across the grassy plain.牛群自由自在地走过草原。
4 functional 5hMxa     
adj.为实用而设计的,具备功能的,起作用的
参考例句:
  • The telephone was out of order,but is functional now.电话刚才坏了,但现在可以用了。
  • The furniture is not fancy,just functional.这些家具不是摆着好看的,只是为了实用。
5 rebate GTIxY     
v./n.折扣,回扣,退款;vt.给...回扣,给...打折扣
参考例句:
  • You can claim a rebate on your tax.你可以要求退回部分税款。
  • Customers are to benefit from a rebate on their electricity bills.顾客将从他们的电费退费中得到实惠。
6 residential kkrzY3     
adj.提供住宿的;居住的;住宅的
参考例句:
  • The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
  • The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。
7 supervisor RrZwv     
n.监督人,管理人,检查员,督学,主管,导师
参考例句:
  • Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说,我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
  • He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

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