This county is giving $1000 to anyone who will take measures for conservation of water. This includes replacing landscaping with artificial turf, plants that don’t need daily watering, or replacing outdoor areas with designs that allow water to drain through them in either patios or walkways.

It costs a state or county government in areas that don’t see water on a steady basis hundreds of thousands of dollars to treat water, filter water, and gather water. Desalination processes, as well as a myriad of other costly programs all add up and take money from governments that are increasingly becoming short on cash. Everyone knows that California is one of the hardest hit areas in the country financially. These rebates may not cover all costs of converting a persons lawn from grass to artificial turf, but it makes a giant dent. Also, it saves the area you live in money. Money that could be put towards better initiatives like education or hospitals.

So if you’re a lucky resident of Solana County – take the water agency up on their offer. If you live anywhere else, contact your local government to see if they can offer some kind of program that’s similar.

How often have you traveled with your pet? Your dog or cat locked up in a crate for the long haul, be it a couple of short connecting flights with layovers, or a really long distance single flight. Don’t they deserve a bathroom break as well?

According to The Washington Post, this might be a possibility in the future. Reagan and Dulles Airports in Washington DC, according to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, have created pet relief areas in order for your pets to be able to have a quick layover and get out of their crates too.

The relief areas will have clear signs and resources for waste disposal. At Dulles these areas are consisting of artificial grass in fenced in enclosures inside some of the concourses. There are drainage systems in place for it to remain clean and cared after easily.

This is incredibly forward thinking on behalf of these airports. They do know that happier pets make happier traveling animals. And by having small artificial turfs inside, it makes it a lot easier for travelers to take better care of their traveling companions. Hopefully more airports take the same lead.

According to the United Nations, the residents of the UAE are amongst the top water users in the world having used 550 liters of water per day. Which you would expect seeing as how some of the richest people in the world live in Dubai, and it is an epicenter of business located in an extremely scorching desert. The thing to note about their water usage is that it also must go through an expensive and long desalination process. The whole procedure is arduous and needs to be changed.

According to this article, ‘”If a family of four reduced their time in the shower by one minute per day, they would save 11,079 litres of water a year, or filling a bath tub only halfway would save 13,870 litres per annum,” said Markus Oberlin, General Manager of Farnek Avireal, a leading UAE-based company advising building owners on how to dramatically cut their carbon emissions and utility bills. “Putting that into context, the savings potential for local governments using artificial grass in pubic urban landscaped areas such as road verges, traffic islands and interchanges, must run in to hundreds of millions of Dirhams. It needs 2.5 million litres of water to irrigate a 200 square metre lawn over 40 months, the same amount of water that would fill an Olympic sized swimming pool,” he added.

By redoing all public parks, traffic medians, and building landscaping, they will also be cutting down their carbon emissions significantly. They have viewed their decision in a matter of health as well. Grass harbors various kinds of insects, such as mosquitoes which are known to carry deadly diseases. This would be lessened with the implementation of synthetic grass.

Overall, the UAE is taking steps that would lessen expenses on water, cut carbon emissions, keep people healthier and safer, and all because they’re switching to artificial turf. They also will make all of their initial costs back after 4 years of not having to maintain it the way they do now. A win win for everyone, right?