Find out how much Long Beach Water Department will pay you to remove your lawn.
Rate
$3/sq ft
Max area
5,000sq ft
Design help
$1,500back
Plant cover
65% required
Have you removed any grass yet? Lawn-to-Garden (L2G) requires written pre-approval before any work starts — starting early is an automatic disqualification.
You qualify if all of these apply:
You will be disqualified if any of these apply:
Your estimated rebate
Enter your lawn size in Step 2 to see your estimate →
$3.00/ sq ft
Data verified August 9, 2026. Not affiliated with L2G.
$3.00 per square foot on up to 5,000 square feet, so a maximum of $15,000. That is Metropolitan Water District's $2 regional base plus $1 added by Long Beach Water. You can also claim up to $1,500 reimbursing the cost of a professional landscape design, which is separate from the per-square-foot rebate.
No. You must receive an approved funding reservation first. A project that has already been started or completed is not eligible, and this is the most common way applicants lose the rebate.
No. Long Beach Water states plainly that synthetic turf is not an approved conversion option for Lawn-to-Garden. This is stricter than Las Vegas, where SNWA accepts permeable artificial turf as a mulch substitute alongside living plants.
Your finished landscape has to be at least 65% covered by plants — noticeably higher than most western programs, which ask for 50%. Gravel or mulch alone will not pass. Because L2G also requires a stormwater retention feature and habitat development, this is one of the more design-intensive programs in the region, which is exactly why the $1,500 design reimbursement exists.
The converted area has to hold rainfall on site rather than shedding it to the street. Rain gardens, basins, berms, swales, grading toward planted areas, and rain barrels or cisterns all satisfy this. It is a firm requirement, not a bonus.