The Alberta towns of Cochrane and Okotoks are offering incentives to encourage people to buy items that will help reduce the amount of water used outside.
Cochrane resident Rebecca Carroll’s front yard used to be covered in grass that needed watering. It now brims with rock material, mulch and drought resistant plants.
“It’s a nice hobby. I like doing the different projects. I no longer have the need to do any irrigation other than tiny amounts in very hot times for the plant materials,” said Carroll, who is an operations services technologist with the Town of Cochrane.
Carroll is one of the many people in the community who took advantage of the town’s water conservation program.
“I love it and it’s something you can add to year after year,” Carroll said. “It’s a lot of work to remove the sod. I always say to residents the best time to remove the sod is to never put it in.”
The town of Cochrane offers six rebates to residents who want to cut back on water use, including the lawn alternative rebate.
Okotoks has similar incentives.
“Every year, we usually sell out of the program. Last year, the program sold out by July. This year we’ve already used 40 per cent of the allotted funds,” said Jinny Toffelmire, environment team leader with the Town of Okotoks.
Toffelmire said there’s a wait list for people in Okotoks who want cash from the town to help remove thirsty lawns.
“I think people are really excited about using less water and using rainwater with the impending drought that we are expecting,” Toffelmire said.
So far, the number of applications in Cochrane is well over double from last year, according to Carroll. Last year, Cochrane used all of its allocated budget.
“Overall we’ve reduced our water use per capita in town, approximately 35 per cent since 2009,” Carroll said.
In Okotoks, rebates for items are 50 per cent of the cost up to the amount listed under each item. For example, residents can get $500 back for installing drought-tolerant grass.
“There’s so much that we can do to install drought-tolerant items in our yards to use less water,” Toffelmire said. “We don’t need to have a rolling green lawn anymore. That shouldn’t be part of our mentality.”
Calgary offers subsidized rain barrels but no rebates. The two towns don’t sell the rain barrels, and residents are instead offered rebates on purchases.
The city says it’s looking at potential incentives to encourage water conservation through an update to the water efficiency plan going to council in early 2025.
A spokesperson for the City of Calgary Water Services said city had a successful toilet rebate program in the past that helped Calgarians swap out more than 100,000 water-guzzling toilets with low-flow, high-efficiency models.
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