Turfgrass indeed offers many benefits such as controlling erosion, filtering stormwater runoff, and decreasing surrounding air temperatures; these points are not in dispute. Within the scope of water efficiency, however, there is a compelling case to design yards with climate-appropriate amounts of turfgrass and a mixture of other landscape plants that provide similar benefits. The purpose of this report is to present and explain data indicating that residential landscapes consisting primarily of turfgrass use considerably more water than landscapes with a mixture of other plants.
You may need a PDF reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA’s About PDF page to learn more.- WS-outdoor-home-turfgrass-report.pdf (PDF)(12 pp, 206 K)