Water agencies in regions familiar with water scarcity have experimented for years with creative ways to get their customers to use less. They've found that sometimes, nothing can incite action faster than a good old-fashioned rebate.

Who can argue with free money?

Some rebates can cover half of the cost of water-saving equipment, drastically shortening the time it will take to see a return on your investment. After that, it's more free money as businesses see those water savings go straight to their bottom lines.

At times the water saving equipment really is free. Many water agencies, for example, give away faucet aerators, which can cut water use in half. A successful program in Southern California even went door-to-door to restaurants to replace pre-rinse spray valves at no charge. Between 2002 and 2006, the program installed in the Los Angeles area tens of thousands of spray valves, each of which can cut related water use by up to 70 percent. Your local water utility may be your greatest ally in your efforts to trim consumption, according to Bill McDonnell, senior resource specialist with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which covers 26 member agencies. 

"The best place to start is calling your local water agency, where they can come out and audit your facility. You don't have to stop running your business," McDonnell said. "Then what you have is information. A lot of people have no idea how much water they're using, or where it's being used."

Audits can reveal potential incentives and rebates. There is great variation in the type of rebates available, but toilet or faucet accessory retrofits appear to be the norm. Many programs, however, go much further, targeting water-saving equipment that is sometimes sector-specific, or even giving commercial customers big rewards for their water-saving performance.

Here are some top water rebate and incentive programs that caught our eye:

Say Goodbye to Your Grass, Vegas

As we reported last year, the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) pays its customers to remove water-guzzling lawns in the Las Vegas region in favor of water-sipping landscaping. By far, it's been the agency's most popular water rebate in a pretty impressive arsenal of financial incentives offered to its customers.

Roughly 143 million square feet of ornamental lawns have been converted so far, according to Doug Bennett, SNWA water conservation manager, the vast majority of it in non-residential settings. SNWA pays $1.50 per square foot of removed grass, up to 5,000 square feet. After that, the rebate drops to $1 per square foot. SNWA estimates the replacement of a single square foot of grass saves about 55 gallons of water each year.



The rebate makes great sense in a sun-parched place like Las Vegas, but the region isn't the only one offering this type of incentive. Water agencies in California, Arizona, Virginia, New Mexico, Utah, Texas, and Oregon, among other states, will also pay cash for ripping out grass in favor of water-conserving landscape.