More than 2,500 square feet of grass outside the South Salt Lake Community Center has been pulled out and replaced with water-wise, native landscaping, a project the city says is expected to save over 75,000 gallons of water every year. The new garden also provides habitat for native birds and bugs, and the city is positioning it as a demonstration site for residents thinking about doing the same at home.
The project was announced in a post by South Salt Lake, Utah on Facebook, which detailed the partnership behind the work: Slow the Flow partnered on the landscaping project, the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District provided funding, and O.C. Tanner volunteers handled the physical implementation. United Way of Salt Lake's Day of Caring organized the volunteer turnout that got the garden in the ground.
A Volunteer Effort With Deep Local Roots
O.C. Tanner, the company whose employees did the planting, has kept its corporate operations in South Salt Lake for 99 years, according to United Way of Salt Lake. The community center itself sits in a Spanish-style building dating to 1918 that spent eight decades as an elementary school before the city converted it into a municipal center in 2000, per the city's own facility records.
The South Salt Lake project was not an isolated gesture. It was one stop in a larger multi-site Week of Service hosted by Slow the Flow in September, which also saw grass lawns flipped outside the Utah Governor's Mansion in Salt Lake City, as well as city halls in Coalville and Hyde Park, according to Deseret News. The timing lines up with continued drought stress across the state: over 90% of Utah remained in severe, extreme, or exceptional drought conditions during that same September week of action, the same outlet reported.
State Law Is Pushing Government Buildings To Cut Grass
Utah isn't leaving this entirely to volunteer goodwill. Under House Bill 121, enacted in 2022, state-owned government facilities must reduce outdoor water consumption by 25% by fiscal year 2026 and cap grass turf coverage at 20% or less on new state construction built on or after May 4, 2022, according to Conserve Water Utah.
State water managers have shifted funding toward outdoor turf removal, announcing they would sunset indoor toilet replacement rebates in November, according to Utah Water Savers.
Looking further ahead, House Bill 242 expands secondary-water metering requirements statewide by 2030, with $200 million available to help water companies install meters, as reported by BasinNow. BasinNow quoted a senator saying people may cut back when informed of their usage and referring to 80% savings.
