Gavin Newsom signs law to permanently ban watering grass at certain California businesses

An extremely wet winter may have freed California from its most recent years-long drought, but the state is still looking to clamp down on water use.

Under a new law signed by Gavin Newsom on Friday, public agencies, restaurants, corporate campuses industrial parks and certain other property owners will be prohibited from watering “nonfunctional turf” using potable water. The law does not apply to residential lawns, apartment complexes, sports fields or cemeteries.

The new rules will be phased in beginning Jan. 1, 2027.

If this prohibition sounds familiar that’s because it’s currently in place as a temporary measure. The State Water Resources Board instituted the ban as an emergency regulation during the drought in June 2022, but it’s set to expire in June 2024.

Legislation to make the ban permanent was co-sponsored not only by environmental groups like the Natural Resources Defense Council and Heal the Bay, but also the largest wholesale provider of drinking water in the country, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

“It’s the lowest hanging fruit,” said Laura Friedman, D-Burbank, author of the bill. “It’s not being used for anything, and we can swap it out with drought-resistant plants that are just as beautiful, if not more beautiful, and that don’t require so much water, so many pesticides, so much maintenance and so much mowing.”

Nevada adopted similar legislation in 2021, prohibiting the use of Colorado River water to irrigate nonfunctional turf on commercial, multi-family, and institutional properties in and around Las Vegas.

California earlier this year reached a deal with Nevada and Arizona to conserve about 3 million acre-feet of Colorado River water over the next three years. More than 30 water agencies across the Colorado River Basin last year also pledged to reduce nonfunctional turf in their service areas by 30%, replacing it with “drought-and climate-resilient landscaping” and maintaining trees for shading.

The permanent ban in California falls in line with the governor’s goals around stretching the state’s water supply, including converting 500 million square feet of ornamental turf to climate-tolerant landscaping by 2030.

According to the State Water Board, ending irrigation of non-functional grass will save the equivalent of water used by as many as 780,000 households every year.

Sen. Brian Dahle, R-Bieber, appreciates that the state needs to address its water shortages but disagrees with this approach.

“I prefer local control on these issues,” he said. “This is a blanket bill that’s going to cover all of California, and it’s going to change the way things look.”

Dahle said he’d like to see lawmakers instead prioritize increasing access to and the use of recycled water.

Following initial opposition from a handful of prominent business groups, including the California Chamber of Commerce, Friedman removed apartment complexes from the mandate and phased in the requirements gradually. Public agencies must comply by Jan. 1, 2027. Commercial, industrial and institutional properties are required to adhere to the new rules by Jan. 1, 2028.

Enforcement will be up to individual public water systems, cities or counties.

Greg Brundeson of the Sacramento Suburban Water District said his agency will be targeting outreach to affected customers with social media, written letters — and drop-in visits if someone in the field spots a violation.

Many agencies, Brundeson noted, offer rebates for upgrading to more efficient irrigation systems or removing grass and replacing it with drought-tolerant landscaping.

Brundeson called the new rule “a positive step for water efficiency.”

“The state relies heavily on reliable water supplies,” he said, “and if droughts continue to get worse, we’re going to need to safeguard our supplies.”

Friedman hopes it will be an easy — and valuable — transition.

“‘It’s more difficult on the public to have the rules change every time we go into drought than it is to just have one standing regulation,” Friedman said. “We know that we’re going to have continuing cycles of drought, so this makes a lot more sense.”