Publication: L.A. Times

UCLA Expert: Madelyn Glickfeld: Co-Director and Researcher, UCLA’s Water Resources Group; Member, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability

Synopsis: With the federal government calling for major cuts in water use to address the historic shortage on the Colorado River, the leaders of 30 agencies that supply cities from the Rocky Mountains to Southern California have signed an agreement committing to boost conservation, in part by pledging to target the removal of one especially thirsty mainstay of suburban landscapes: decorative grass.

UCLA News: Glickfeld said that the agreement is a good step but cities will need to do more, and that agricultural water districts should make similar water-saving commitments. “Agriculture has got to consider growing less water-intensive crops,” Glickfeld said. As for the ubiquitous lawns in cities and suburbs, she said, “everyone should be taking out their nonfunctional grass — and even their functional grass where there are good replacements. The changes we have to make are huge,” she said. “And because we’ve let things get so bad, we don’t have a hell of a lot of time.”