By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

The city of Hays is ramping up its “Turf Conversion Rebate,” which Assistant City Manager Paul Briseno said has the “potential to be the city’s most successful water conservation program ever.”

During the 2015 budget process, city commissioners allocated $50,000 dollars from the water sales tax for development of the rebate program. It would encourage people to convert lawns and other turf to warm season grass, which is drought-tolerant, and according to Briseno, uses 75 percent less water than cool season grass.

“We use right around 1.5 million gallons of water a day during the winter time, mostly around the house. During the summer time, we use twice as much, right around 3 to 3.5 million gallons of water per day. So it’s pretty obvious we’re using most of that water on our turfs, on our lawns,” Briseno said.

Xeriscaping and artificial turf would also be eligible for the turf conversion rebate of $1 dollar per square foot with a maximum rebate of $1,000 thousand dollars.

“Right now the city has rebates for (low-flow) urinals, toilets, showerheads and washing machines. All of those combined will save about 20 acre feet of water if fully utilized by residents throughout the year.

“This program alone will save about 20 acre feet. We budgeted $50,000 for the turf conversion rebate program. If we had to go out and purchase water rights for that 20 acre feet, it would cost the city close to $600,000 dollars. So it’s a pretty good rate of return.

“If people people do this one year, this could be a compounding savings (in future years) for water customers themselves as well as the city,” Briseno added.

Water Conservation Specialist Jason Riegel will discuss the program implementation with city commissioners during their Thursday night work session.