Longmont, CO

Impact Analysis and Goal Development of a Non-Essential Turf Conversion Program Our Approach Project Outcomes

Project Goal

WaterNow partnered with the City of Longmont to establish a data-driven goal for reducing non-functional turf on city-owned property, to build on and complement the City’s existing residential turf replacement rebate program.

Our Approach

Longmont is located in Colorado’s Front Range and is home to a population of just over 100,000. Like many other Front Range communities, Longmont is interested in exploring methods that reduce its water demand in the face of increasing water scarcity as the City continues to grow.

In this project, WaterNow drew on research and best practices from other Colorado River Basin communities to identify, analyze, and prioritize areas for turf replacement; estimate water savings based on a spatial analysis and replacement landscaping scenarios; and consider additional environmental, social, and economic co-benefits that could result from turf conversion projects.

Outcomes

This analysis generated a data-driven goal for turf conversions on city-owned properties, enabling Longmont to budget and plan for these projects in the future. The project found that Longmont’s public spaces include a large amount of non-functional turf, accounting for 75% of all turf maintained across city-owned property, and that there are significant opportunities for the City to reduce its water and maintenance costs by converting this non-functional turf to less water-intensive landscaping, saving up to 290 acre-feet of water annually.

The project produced a budgeting tool to support the City in setting annual turf conversion goals to move towards capturing these water savings, and a prioritization tool that compares potential turf conversion sites in terms of their relative community benefits, climate resilience benefits, and cost savings, per unit of cost invested.

Increasing water efficient and climate appropriate landscapes will enable the City to decrease outdoor water demand and move towards the conservation goals outlined in its Water Efficiency Master Plan. This analysis will also inform the City’s Water Efficiency Master Plan 2024 update.