Paige is a wonderful realtor! She was very patient with me in my buying process - buying your first condo can be a very stressful time but Paige wasn’t pushy & was always quick to point out things I wouldn’t know to look for. Very trustworthy! Thank you for making my first time buying experience a good one!
Nancy Moro
Kelowna's Water Smart Program!
The future: going after the lawn
Because of Kelowna’s semi-arid climate, the Water Smart program is modeled after water conservation programs in the southwestern United States, such as California, where some water suppliers pay their customers to remove their lawns. That may well be in the future for Kelowna residents.
In the meantime, the utility is experimenting with different varieties of drought tolerant grasses. Several homeowners volunteered to have their yards seeded with Eco-Lawn, which uses about 50% less water than traditional turf. So far, the grass is growing well and the homeowners are happy. The lawn at the Kelowna public library was replaced with Zoysia Grass, a heat-loving species that has great potential if it can survive the Okanagan winters.
Another interesting experiment is the use of compost tea to reduce thatch and improve moisture retention. Volunteers with at least two inches of thatch had their lawns sprayed with a special liquid brewed in compost. The liquid contained bacteria and fungi that ‘eat’ the thatch and it worked remarkably well. After just one application, the thatch on some volunteer properties was reduced from two inches to zero.
Even with all of this – the water rates, and the social marketing programs – there are other plans in the works that are necessary to reduce peak demand further. Some of
these include bylaws that would require a certain percentage of drought-tolerant landscaping for all new construction, and moisture sensors for all irrigation systems.
The bottom line is that the look of Kelowna may change in the future. This is not necessarily a bad thing; it has been shown in cities like Phoenix and Tucson that Xeriscaping is an attractive alternative to traditional landscaping. Residents of Kelowna will have to accept that, or pay the price for growing grass in the desert.
This article by Neal Klassen is reprinted from the Winter 2006-2007 issue of Watermark Magazine, the journal of the British Columbia Water & Waste Association.
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