Santa Barbara Expands Lawn Rebate
Program to Include Rain Gardens
New Incentives Encourage Residents to Save Water,
Recharge Groundwater, and Rethink Their Yards as
Part of the Local Watershed
By Ella Heydenfelt | September 11, 2025
“Before” and “after” photos of the Santa Barbara Association of Realtors building; they reduced their water use for the whole property by 79 percent, only irrigating during peak summer months. | Credit: Courtesy
Find more Fall 2025 Home & Garden stories here.
We like to call ourselves the American Riviera. A landscape characterized by mountains covered in tan rocks and shrubs, leading down to sandy cliffs that overlook a blue ocean.
Neon-green lawns are not a natural part of that vision.
As the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden puts it, traditional lawns “are an outsized drain on our resources.” They offer little environmental benefit, require fertilizers and pesticides, and consume enormous amounts of water. And water, here, is never in abundance.
According to the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, “landscape irrigation is estimated to account for about 50 percent of annual residential water consumption statewide.” In other words, half of California’s water use is tied up in plants that do not naturally occur here.
Santa Barbara has a solution.
Since 2009, the city’s Sustainable Lawn Replacement Rebate has encouraged residents to swap grass for drought-tolerant landscaping. More than 1,600 customers have participated. This spring, the city expanded the program to include a new incentive: rain gardens.
Rain gardens are shallow depressions designed to capture stormwater from roofs, driveways, and other hard surfaces. Instead of running off into streets and storm drains, rainwater filters through soil, replenishing groundwater and reducing pollution.
“They allow water to slow down, spread out, and soak into the soil,” said Erin Markey, manager of the city’s Creeks Division. “It’s good for flooding, good for water quality, and it re-creates how the landscape functioned before development.”
The city estimates that a typical home could see water savings of 12 to 20 percent with a rain garden. One commercial site — the Santa Barbara Association of Realtors building — cut its water use by 79 percent after replacing grass with drought-tolerant landscaping and redirecting downspouts into a rain garden.
“The project is an excellent example of what we are trying to incentivize through the new rebate program,” said Madeline Wood, the city’s Water Conservation Analyst.
How the Rebate Works
Homeowners receive $2 per square foot for removing a living lawn, plus an additional $3 per square foot for creating a rain garden retention area, totaling up to a maximum of $5 per square foot. The rebate is capped at $5,000 for residential properties and $15,000 for commercial ones.
To qualify, lawns must be living (not bare dirt or weeds), irrigation must be converted to drip or eliminated, and the space must be replanted with water-wise plants (a minimum of three per 100 square feet). Mulch is required, and hardscape features, such as decks or patios, are not eligible.
The program helps offset costs that typically average around $7 per square foot when hiring contractors, Wood said. Today, it’s backed by federal funds and local Measure B revenues, which the city hopes will continue.
“One of the key things is to call us before any work is done, because the rebate’s not retroactive,” Wood emphasized.
By reimagining front yards as part of a larger watershed, the city hopes to chip away at one of the region’s biggest drains on water. The message: Turn off the sprinklers, dig a little deeper, and let the rain do the work.
For more information, residents can visit santabarbaraca.gov/waterwise.
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