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Mesa expands grass‑to‑xeriscape incentives with $916,000 WIFA grant; Waterfluence to target HOA landscape waste
Summary
City staff described a WIFA-funded package that raises nonresidential grass‑to‑xeriscape incentives, adds Waterfluence landscape benchmarking for HOAs, and funds targeted landscape assessments; staff presented projected water savings and timelines.
Becky Zusi, Conservation Coordinator, and Lauren Whittaker, Environmental Program Supervisor, updated the City Council on Climate Action Plan work focused on water conservation and described a nearly $916,000 grant from the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona (WIFA) to expand nonresidential incentives and benchmarking tools.
The WIFA-funded package reallocates grant funds to expand the nonresidential “grass-to-xeriscape” incentive and to deploy Waterfluence — a landscape water‑budgeting platform — plus professional landscape assessments targeted at high-usage accounts. “We did receive a grant for about $916,000 from the WIFA,” Zusi said, and staff noted they shifted funds within the grant after strong initial demand for grass-to-xeriscape incentives.
Key program elements and metrics presented: • Nonresidential grass-to-xeriscape: incentive increased up to $50,000 per project (approximately $2 per square foot), with a required 50% low-water-use plant canopy replacement; staff use a conservative estimate of 25 gallons per square foot in annual water savings when live grass is replaced by xeriscape. Zusi said 17 nonresidential customers (HOAs, apartments, businesses) are now participating; projects average about $33,000 per incentive and are expected to save roughly 7,000,000 gallons annually from current work and an estimated five‑year cumulative savings of more than 105,000,000 gallons. • Waterfluence (HOA benchmarking): the program will be offered to HOAs that have dedicated landscape meters; Waterfluence provides maps and monthly water‑budget recommendations that flag accounts using substantially more water than recommended. Staff said they expect Waterfluence to save about 40,000,000 gallons annually across participants once the program is fully deployed. • Landscape assessments: the grant will fund 40–50 professional assessments targeted at the least-efficient HOAs; staff estimate roughly a 5% savings per assessed site and about 13,000,000 gallons annually from that component.
Residential programs: Mesa’s residential grass‑to‑xeriscape incentive remains active, offering up to $1,100 per household for conversions of at least 500 square feet. Staff noted SRP will contribute $15,000 annually for five years to support the residential program. Since 2007 the city reports more than 600 conversions, about 575,000 square feet removed and an estimated cumulative savings of 142,000,000 gallons.
Implementation items and related work: staff said AMI meter conversion (remote metering) will improve near-real-time usage visibility and that Waterfluence can integrate with AMI. Parks staff reported a turf-reduction project (54 sites, about 5 acres) that is roughly 22% complete and targets locations east of the eastern canal. Staff emphasized that incentive levels influence participation: higher incentives produced larger take-up among HOAs and other nonresidential users.
Council members asked for additional cost context for customers; staff provided an example estimate for an HOA saving about 625,000 gallons per year, which equates to approximately $2,700 a year at current landscape meter rates. Vice Mayor Summers and others urged continued outreach and coordination with transportation and parks projects to avoid duplicative conversions. Staff said Waterfluence and incentive rollouts will continue in spring and that the city will track actual meter‑level savings as AMI and benchmarking data come online.
Why it matters: Mesa faces constrained water supplies and has placed water conservation among its Climate Action Plan priorities. The grant-funded program is designed to accelerate conversion of nonproductive turf on commercial sites and HOAs, reduce landscape water waste, and provide HOAs and property managers with actionable monthly targets.
Next steps: staff will begin Waterfluence onboarding in the spring, complete funded conversions according to the grant schedule, continue coordination with Parks and Transportation conversions, and report back with meter-level savings once AMI and benchmarking are active.
