Residents of Fountain Hills might feel a tinge of sadness as they pass the once lush intersection at Fountain Hills Blvd. and Shea Blvd., now a swath of browning grass; however, it's all part of the Town's new water-saving strategy. The dying turf is actually a sign of progress toward a more sustainable future, as the Town gears up to switch it out for a desert landscape.

The corner in question, a sprawl of roughly 30,000 square feet of thirsty sod and 12 palm trees has been sipping, more like gulping, potable water to quench its needs – to the tune of 2,005,000 gallons annually, as reported by Fountain Hills official website. Unlike the greenery at Fountain Park, which is sustained by reclaimed water, this patch relies on drinking water provided by EPCOR; however, a transformation is underway, aiming to reduce water use significantly with a desert makeover.

The town's turf reduction initiative isn't just a random act of conservation. It's part of a broader environmentally conscious strategy, underscored by the 2020 adopted General Plan of Fountain Hills, which puts a premium on drought-tolerant landscaping and responsible stewardship over the natural desert ecosystem. This new plan involves uprooting the current high-water-use foliage and laying down a combination of decomposed granite, low-water ground cover, shrubs, and trees that are native and natural to the desert climate.

But the benefits go beyond sheer water savings. The shift to a desert landscape will mean reduced irrigation needs, lowered maintenance costs without the need for tedious turf care, and overseeding, improved efficiency in landscape watering, and less water runoff from irrigation, as detailed by the Town of Fountain Hills. Once completed, the project is expected to hold back some 1,880,998 gallons of potable water from being absorbed by the thirsty ground – because every drop counts in the arid stretches of Arizona.