Who uses the most water in the City of Bend? | In Focus

Multi-year droughts, increases in population and grass turf are all all factors putting a strain on one of our most precious resources: water. This spring, the City of Bend launched a turf rebate program paying homeowners up to $3,000 to tear out their lawns and replace them with plants that need less water.

Sprinklers shooting water on local lawns is the sound of the season.

“Definitely have to do some reprogramming with it, but it’ll be nice as far as looking at the usage chart,”  said Stefan D’Angona, standing in his driveway in Northeast Bend firing up his sprinklers with a phone app.

D’Angona has a big item on the to do list this summer — removing the sod. His DIY project will have a big assist from both friends and from the City of Bend. The city’s turf removal rebate program is paying D’Angona $2,406 for 802 square feet of grass.

“It kind of opened the door to move forward,” D’Angona said of the program that launched in April. 

Across town, Bruce Couch has a similar plan.

“We’re taking the dirt out of the swale and using to build a mound no the other side. Our contractor doing the xeriscape. He called up for the 811 stuff,” said Couch, describing color markings in the strip of grass between the tree and sidewalk.

They are two of the dozens of homeowners turning grass to cash in an effort to cut their water use. City of Bend Water Conservation Program Manager Dan Denning has been fielding lots of calls on it.

“We got a ton of applications for this already. So the funding through June pretty much spoken for unless someone drops out,” Denning said. 

The city has an ambitious target – reduce the amount of water used by 7.9 billion gallons over the next 20 years — gallons that mostly go to the yard.

“We typically see about 15,000 gallons a year applied to 1,000 square foot area of turf grass,” said Denning. 

It’s a finite resource, for something many don’t use.

“Eighty percent of the water we used in this house was to water this lawn. And we never use it,” said Couch.

Water 101

Bend gets surface water from the Bridge Creek Watershed above Tumalo Falls.

“And that supplies our baseline usage, about 5 to 6 million gallons a day. So that’s primarily indoor use,” said Denning.

“When irrigation gets turned on in April, we have 20 ground water wells throughout the City of Bend we supplement out of the Deschutes Aquifer. It’s a five-fold increase due to irrigation,” he adds.

It’s sucking water out of the ground only to dump it back on the ground. And, sometimes, dump it onto the sidewalks.

“These are key areas to convert to something that is native, or low water use or attracts pollinators,” Denning said.

In 2022, the city got a grant for homeowners pull their turf grass from the street strip — that space between the sidewalk and street. It’s an area that not a lot of homeowners use, but that sprinklers often overspray onto the pavement. The money only covered six houses, but the homeowners saw the benefits in reduced water bills and the city saw the interest in incentive programs.

Who’s the thirstiest water user in Bend?

Which entity uses the most water provided by the City of Bend? Not golf courses — they don’t use city water. And it’s not breweries, which use about 2% combined.

No. 1 on the list is the Bend-La Pine School District. With turf on lawns, athletic fields and even the district offices where new sod was laid after dry wells were installed to manage runoff and prevent basement flooding.

The Bend Parks and Recreation District (BPRD) comes in second, even though not every park sources water from the city.

“We’re working on getting things tuned up and what might have broke over the winter,” said Mike Duarte, the BPRD Landscape Manager. He oversees about 3,000 acres — 200 of which is turf grass.

“Grass has a place. It’s important, especially when kids can come out and play. Also we host a lot of athletic events, we have practices in every neighborhood park,” Duarte said.

BPRD said only 6.3% of its land is irrigated. It designs parks to include natural areas and native plants. What turf grass they do have sees events, sports practices and use from the general public.

Coming in at No. 3 is the City of Bend itself. Its water use includes irrigating 40 acres of right-of-way landscape.

All three entities participate in the Large Landscape Program and work with the city on how to best use water.

Surprisingly, as Bend has grown the past few years, water usage has stayed level.

“We don’t see the same trajectory in growth in our water use,” Denning said. City data reflects a trend water managers would like to see hold. “It’s encouraging, but we’ve got some pretty hefty goals.”

How much does less water does the City want you to use?

The goal is for Bend water users to cut their daily water use.

“Right now we’re at 157 gallons (per person) per day. If we can reduce that by 13 gallons per person per day, down to 143, that will help us meet our goal by 2040,” Denning said.

As the city continues to grow, it is also working on development codes for new construction to use less water for landscaping

“If we can get the community buy in to try and buffer the effects of drought, to buffer the effects of growth, that can definitely slow down the point to not only needing any more water, but to any of those mandatory restrictions,” Denning said. He’s referring to restrictions on lawns and water use that other communities around the west use.

For Couch, his reasons for ripping up the yard go beyond conservation. 

“Looking for ways to have less maintenance, looking for ways to save money,” Couch said.

It’s similar outlook for soon-to-be-former yard owner D’Angona.

“Hopefully we can be sitting and enjoying the view rather than working on it,” he said. 

The turf rebate — one step in balancing growth and water demand while saving green both across the High Desert and in homeowners’ bank accounts.

“At the end of the day we are hopefully leaving bit more water in the aquifer,” D’Angona said.

The program received 70 applicants and is full for this season. The city does plan to offer the program next year and is also working on development codes for new construction to use less water for landscaping.