Don't have this problem in Ireland. But yeah, growing grass in a desert seems extremely dumb.

Growing hundreds of acres of grass in a desert is insane.

I wrote a satirical paper in school arguing that grass is the dominant species in America, and humans are subservient to their lawns.

I love how the grower touts that they don’t pull water from the Colorado river…. but rather from aquifers in the mountains, needing to dig deeper and deeper for each new water well. They’re effectively lowering the water table. Also, aquifers feed into streams and thus into the river so this affects the river’s levels as well, not to mention that overdrafting groundwater can cause the land to collapse.

I worked in native landscaping and for anyone in the western half of the country who is looking for a native alternative to turf I would recommend buffalo grass it is native to the us and only requires a fifth of the water and still gives you the green grass lawn that most homeowners look for

In the Midwest we actually have tons of native plant species that are constantly outpacing non-native grasses. A lot of people, including myself, my sister and her family, and my parents have taken the step to convert our boring old grass lawns into prairie habitat lawns. Looks INFINITELY better and requires ZERO maintenance. But growing tons of plants in the middle of a desert? Like wtf. The Midwest is humid, swampy, and rainy. Nevada isn't. I can't believe they were doing this tbh.

Putting artificial grass in the desert and constantly watering it is like me putting heaters on my property in northern Canada to remove the snow so I can see the grass. If you chose to live in a desert you're gonna have to live with desert scenery, just like people living in snowy areas have to live with the snow. I think switching people off of lawns in places like this is great, eventually people will change their housing culture to adapt to nature, not forcing nature to adapt to you. If you don't like desert scenery, maybe shouldn't have bought a house in the desert lol. Bonus in all this is if it keeps up states like Arizona will look vastly different to the rest of the US and that might actually be an even bigger boon for tourism and people's interest in buying property. Maybe this will even change building codes / building style to remove the front yards since if they will be "unappealing" rock anyways maybe just put the house closer to the street and maximize the space on your property, or increase property density.

When you choose to live in a desert, then you must adapt to the local environment. The lawns and forests that exist in your cultural memory must be left behind.

Honestly "native plant lawns" look better and handle better

I hate whenever my uni cuts beautiful dandelion & daisy field for the sake of keeping the grass. I seriously don't understand.

Let's not disregard the fact that all the golf courses and hotels/casinos in Las Vegas use far more water than any of the home lawns in LV

These regulations should really make their way to Utah. Being neighbors to Nevada, we have a lot of the same issues shown in this video. Our Great Salt Lake is shrinking and if it continues toxic dust will destroy the salt lake valley. Water preservation is a HUGE issue here and needs to be taken mote seriously.

This feels like satire. But we should totally switch grass for other more helpful plants, like pollinators or having a garden on every lawn. If we got a class in school about gardening it would be easy for us to start, or having companies that can help turn these grass lawns into gardens

This is what happens when you try to populate places you shouldn't live.

natural lawns with succulents, cacti, etc, look so much better in the south west than ugly grass carpets

Awesome! I hate the fact that we're wasting so much money and water to try to terraform the desert into lush grasslands. These people move out into the desert because it's cheap and then complain about the lack of green.

Make gardens, not lawns ✌️

I love the desert rock look. It makes the American southwest look & feel so much better than endless piles of artificial greenery.

I live in las vegas and for the life of me i cannot understand why people insist on having grass in a desert and after living here for years ive come to the realization its people moving to Nevada from California or other states that are not the desert that insist on grass and usually after paying a $300 water bill for a few years they get rock or leave

[Florida] I just moved into my first house (renting) from an apartment and my surprise at the water bill was measurably irate. So much money spent on watering a yard at midnight to prevent evaporation that not only got rained on but was using POTABLE water was mind-boggling. All in an effort to avoid HOA fees and 'look nice for the neighbors'. I don't have an issue with yards per say but the sheer waste from them is wild. I'm not a 1700s noble - I'm not going to impress anyone with my rented 0.25 acre yard no matter how pretty it is. If the yard was artificial turf or allowed to (within reason) allowed to be more natural for local bees / butterflies I think would be a better use.

Water shortages are becoming a thing even here in central Europe. We still get plenty of water from failing snow and rain but all of it goes to the sea.

I lived in Phoenix for about 8 years and always loved the desert landscaping. It seems strange to me that people would choose to live in the desert and then completely sidestep the natural beauty of that area. It might not have as much green but it has it's own charm and nature has designed all of it to thrive in that sort of climate. Its always better to grow what's native to your area. I will probably never own a house myself but if I do I definitely won't be wasting water on a useless grass lawn.

Yes! Too many places are in drought. Ban grass everywhere

As a Las Vegas native, grass should have been BANNED a long time ago! It’s literally useless and a waste of water.

Without grass lawns proper mud stiffness and soil erosion are uncontrollable but still having a tree or a small garden can make a great change in water use. A garden makes a purpose while feeding useless grass.

Just move to Florida. It's been raining here for a week straight. Water can't evaporate due to 100 percent humidity so we all good there. You will need to deal with gators though.

Good god, I can't imagine wasting clean water to grow grass. Don't get me wrong, I have a large lawn, but I live in an area with ample rain fall, so I don't have to water it. Were that not the case I just wouldn't have a lawn at all. I'll water fruit and veggies, but I'll be damned if I'll waste perfectly good drinking water on grass.

If grass doesn't naturally grow in your yard....just let it be, it's not the end if the world

Hopefully fake, plastic grass also is banned there. That is a big environmental disaster.

We need to do something with lawns. They are just such a waste of time resources and money, when only a couple percent of the grass area is actually used for leisure activities!

My neighbors across the street have a garden made up mostly of plants native to our local area (south bay area of Los Angeles county) and their garden reauires little to no watering, they mostly just remove the non-native weeds. Their plants are always healthy.

I do landscaping for a living but not in a dry climate like this. Regardless, over the years I've realized that what people consider as a "weed" are essential to native environments. These "weeds" serve an infinite amount of purpose compared to the Bermuda grass that replaces them. It's kinda odd that the grass doesn't serve any purpose beyond one's vanity or status but it's considered a normal thing associated with property.

Green grass comes from British and Irish heritage where constant cold misty water makes rolling hills of grass appropriate. In the west coast and desert this makes as much sense as having an artificial snow pile on your yard for looks. Accept, you left that climate and you need to leave the grass behind.

I get growing grass in places where there is normally grass but putting grass in Las Vegas is just silly.

The city I live in was a swampy area and so grass struggles to grow here because the earth is mostly clay instead of soil. People still try but it almost always turns into a muddy patch with dead grass after a year.

the grass they grow and pay to cut along interstates and the patches of grass next to the sidewalks along the road always seemed weird to be especially when I moved to the USA from Canada since we don't do that. I used to ask my husband why because the USA is so much hotter, and don't have nearly as high of tax percentage as we do yet y'all plant grass that requires constant upkeep. It should be something else like us. We just put more pavement or rocks, things that don't require any additional upkeep.

Yes, and make it illegal for my neighbors to complain about my lawn too!!!

Turning desert back into desert does make a lot of sense for water management

I love rock gardens they are pretty and easy to take care of.

I remember Tucson, Arizona as a kid in the 1950's. Even then, our neighborhood had few if any lawns. Instead, attractive landscaping using gravel and native plants such as cacti predominated.

That's wild, I've always wondered what those green circles were in the desert when I saw them from Google Earth.

I have those kinda grass fields in my town (not the US) and its UGLY af, also uses a lot of water. I never understood the aesthetic appeal of it either, it just looks so synthetic and dead. A lawn full of wildflowers, trees and bushes that are home to insects is much more beautiful....

Great stuff. Great initiative. And their new lawns look really nice and beautifully southwestern actually.

Going off topic, I feel that if you own a home, that front lawn should be used from the owner of the home. Like build a large tent space. So you can camp and cook on the lawn. It's a little weird that you have to make it look like a nince natural museum piece. Nice and trimmed vegetation. And leave it untouched

Dirt's fine for me, but if you really need something in front of your home on the ground, gravel works fine, and if you want something a little easier to walk of barefoot, pea gravel is better. (Just gravel but rounded out). Or river rock

90% of homeowners' lawns in the Phoenix area already have rocks instead of grass. Nothing new.

I get that the rocks may not be as nice to run around and play on as grass, but the native succulents and cactus type plants do look pretty damn cool in the front yard

Not surprising that grass won’t survive in a DESERT

I feel like this should be in a George Orwell novel.

Seriously I always feel for those people who has no water to drink.🤔

We live up in Illinois and my wife planted a nice Savannah area in the front yard full of native flowers and we have a lot of that going on the backyard too. There is still some grass which I would love to get rid of

I fully agree with banning lawns nationwide. It would also reduce noise pollution from landscapers constantly working on yards. It's a complete waste of water. Go with native flora in your yard that do not need to be artificially irrigated.

Honestly, grass is outdated. Herbs, vegetables, and fruits look best especially when fruiting and flowering. Also, have you seen a clover yard? They look immaculate.

Big ups to the camera man's super quick reflexes pulling focus to get the grass back in focus at 0:17

I live in NJ and after buying my house last year, I’m converting my lawn with wildflowers, mint and clover..

Go with what grows in the location best. Long roots are great indicators of fit. Lawns should be phased out. Start with a build out of pollinator circles or squares, and make steady progress.

Planting slabs and payments in the ground instead of grass will stop the absorption of water into the ground. And stones could stop plant growth which allows weeds to grow.

I can't believe this is still going on. I would've thought people would stop having lawns in Vegas decades ago.

Honestly over grass, a house in my neighbourhood has a white stone/gravel yard and it looks amazing. Has some trees but you can hand water those if needed. Really does seem dumb in an arid desert to have grassy golf courses and yards.

The reason this grass is being grown in a desert is because it helps control variables. It helps prevent weed seeds in the sod. It also prevents birds from pooing in the grass and putting in weed seed into the sod. Sod is very expensive to buy if anyone ever looked into buying it but that sod gets shipped all over the place. It’s not just used in NV.

HOAs enforcing grass lawns of non native grass and banning beneficial landscapes of native plants is just nuts... Especially since HOAs are crazy OP.

Wow amazing work

Golf courses are big water wasters. They should be the first to go. Next should be the grass outside the homes.

i agree ,but are the lights on his car are also useless .. grass police💀

Who else waters their grass mainly due to not wanting to stand out in the neighborhood.....but hates their water bill and wishes watering grass WAS banned.....HOA will come knocking ....

Why not? Ban grass and lawnmowers. Outlaw golf and croquet. Swing sets upset me too. The color "red" makes the bulls pissed off.

Clover grass is drought resistant and uses significantly less water.

My lawn is not an "ecological dead zone" anymore than an entire neighborhood with rocks for a yard is an "ecological dead zone" - And the water inspector saying that the water is lost when it evaporates tells me he needs to re-visit 8th grade science class. What we need is for people to stop talking in extremes and meet in the middle, in the gray area where we can find agreement.

Bros a water cop, this feels dystopian

Yeah it very smart thing to grow grass in the middle of blistering hot desert 😒. And people in the Westcoast keep wondering why they continue to have water shortages. Can't fix stupid.

Genuinely a genius idea to drain the aquifers of water. Especially when they are doing it for growing grass. Unbelievable....

They complain about drought but are adding more housing?

The U.S. and their strange laws.

I hope they do this in Washington where I live. I don’t want to take care of my lawn and we get plenty of rainfall here and yet many households have scheduled sprinklers

Isnt it a good solution to use as replacement for blocks at residential areas to improve ground wster recharge

Native plants and flowers with deep roots that hold the soil together and take care of themselves are what you want. I've never understood the obsession with fescue. It's ugly, worthless, and high maintenance. Just let the flowers grow! I squeal in delight when I find a new type of bloom in my yard and immediately scan it with Google Lens to study it. Many are perfectly edible!

Yes... But we reclaim water in Las Vegas and we have a 0 percent consumption rate. Lake Mead is depleting because of the major dams upstream and the other states that take more water than they need.... Lake Mead is rising as of now because they are letting more water through the dams.

Always wondered what those big green circles were in the middle of the desert on google maps

I live in Washington and hate the lawn. Most of the people in the neighborhood don’t need to water because of the rain and then we let the grass die during dry periods. I am looking into replacing the lawn completely.

There is no way Nevada's situation could apply to Georgia. I have about an acre of lawn around my house and I almost never water it because we get enough rain. The purpose for the grass is to decrease the number of bugs (especially scorpion and centipedes), rodents, and snakes that come to the house. They bugs like trees and chunks of branches and logs or rocks to live under and around. The rodents and snakes don't like to cross open fields because they would be seen by predatory birds. The grass is for more than looks here. It provides a safer place for my kids.

It's because nobody goes outside anymore

I live in the northeast and have a big lawn. I NEVER water my lawn, and it does fine with just the rain it gets.

The irony is that replacing grass with gravel increases atmospheric temperatures. How about plant desert trees that don't need much water and provide shade???

Are you guys looking to compete with The Onion?

More than 70% of water from the colorado river is used for irrigation in agriculture. Less than 15% is used in residential(People). The majority of that percentage of water is used in raising cattle in the US(Meat Production). I appreciate the spotlight put on the matter of how turf and traditional lawns are an immense waste of water and states with strict water consumption situations enforce regulation on them. Its cool making a video and reporting on how niche states like nevada are banning turf because it is a waste of water but it is dissapointing hearing a useless summary on how having a large, traditional lawn was a status symbol in the US since the 1800s and that there are companies still based in nevada making sod that is more "water-friendly"? This is insider business and its surprising to see how no effort was put by the reporters into looking at the major consumers of water and is instead focusing on how there are still some sod-farmers based in nevada or there are water patrol officers?(LOL) What about the fact that there had been a history in areas of the south-west where water grants were given to farmer based off of how much alfalfa they reserved to grow on their land for feeding cattle? Raisemore Alfalfa-> Get More Water Access -> Raise more cattle and Crops -> Need more Water to grow more alfalfa and crops, and raise cattle -> repeat... What about clarifying the distinction of how a US State is emphasizing regulation on the residents homes and implicating blame on them because "they are watering their lawns too much"? Roughly 13% of water is consumed in residential use in ALL recorded usage of people who live off the colorado river. This sentence means that not even all residents get their water from the river, but states can still choose to enforce water preservation laws and regulations on them to "serve the majority". But its ok. Its easier to report on a situation happening tangential to a core problem, sprinkle in some buzz-words to imply an air of "sustainable water consumption" or anything positive in that regard, to produce a low effort video that misdirects people into thinking regulating their personal habits and choices are what is good for those around you and the environment. Very Disappointing but congrats, you got what you wanted it looks like.

I use a bit of gas mowing my grass but would never water it and a good percentage of it is clover and violets. I also use the clippings for mulch and compost. Not really wasteful in my situation. Will be even less so when electric lawn tractors become the norm and renewable electricity

Sure would be nice, there is a sod farm just up stream from me and their fertilizer creates all sorts of problems in the ponds outside my house.

Blaming lawns for the drought in Lake Mead like they didn't makeup water rights for water that didn't exist. Only the people that can't pay the fines are punished while all the rich people water their golf courses and their country club houses.

NO !

All lawns should be Replaced with Swales, Native Growth, and Food Forests

More people need to learn from Joel Salatin and Greg Judy for rotational grazing and regenerative farming.

Ban grass? Kim Jong Un says "yes."

Grass helps to keep moisture in the soil and it also helps to feed grubs that help to bring nutrients into the soil it has a purpose

as an ex-downtown las vegas resident i can say with confidence that crickets under rocks in our front and back yards are quite common. rarely would i see grass on someone’s lawn, and it would mostly be rocks or sometimes fake grass

Omg finally someone else said it! The 'perfect lawn' is such a weird obsession I will never understand

I as a German feel very sad If i See American homes that have huge gardens but Theres is nothing in it but Gras

I believed that with enough research genetically modified grass can help reduce the water absorption by grass and even go to groundwater storage. The grass may work as sun cream for groundwater with GMOS.

Good Job LV for doing something about this. Lawns are stupid in the desert.

Future humans will look back at our wasteful use of clean water and will be sickened by how idiotic this question even is.

Any good dad with young kids knows the importance of having a fun and safe yard. This is achieved with well maintained and REAL grass.