news, local-news,

When will we accept that most of Australia is basically a desert? The second driest continent to Antarctica yet we continue to witness new suburbs being built with grass as the primary landcape feature. As a resident of an older suburb I too am guilty of the green grass obsession. However as I watch the dropping dam levels and lack of rain I feel an increasing sense of guilt over my water usage to just keep the grass alive and green (particulary the front yard that doesn't see much real use from children etc). I have begun to look into replacing the grass with a xeriscaped (dry waterwise) landscape which is used throughout much of the drier American states such as Nevada and California ... and to my amazement many of their councils have a "Cash for Grass" rebate scheme which encourages residents to replace the grass with desert landscapes such as gravel, succulents, cactus and other drought tolerant species. Residents receive approximately $5 Australian per square foot of converted land which the council pays to the resident once the works have been completed and inspected. What a great idea and why are we not utilising and promoting a similar system? Surely there would be a massive uptake to save water and time with mowing etc... I know it's only one aspect of water usage but it would make a fair dent in many households' usage including my own.

https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/4mpnxzep8wBUuA9TQNHDwg/d8552687-38a8-4da5-975b-9548f5abbec6.jpg/r0_244_835_716_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg

OPINION It's time to rethink our green grass obsession