Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints installs water-wise landscaping, hopes to save 500M gallons of water

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is working to install water-wise landscaping and smart sprinkler systems on its meetinghouse properties in the Intermountain West, including Utah.

The Church said they are working towards a major initiative that may save over 500 million gallons of water in a year. Their initiative involves installing smart sprinkler system controllers, and installing water-wise landscapes on meetinghouse properties.

Water-wise plants are used in landscaping at Church meetinghouses in Mesa. Landscape managers monitor smart controllers on their mobile devices (Courtesy: Church Newsroom)

They say they are installing over 3,000 smart controllers at various facilities across the Intermountain West. The smart controllers use operational adjustments that can save water and that can be controlled using mobile devices. “These adjustments are made to maximize water absorption by plants based on factors such as weather, humidity, and soil composition,” Church officials said in a press release.

Early estimates say the smart controllers should save over 500 million gallons of water, equivalent to filling over 750 Olympic-sized swimming pools, within the first year of operation.

Church leaders add that they have also been installing water-wise landscaping on its properties since the early 2000s, “gradually phasing out purely decorative or ‘nonfunctional’ grass for new meetinghouses and remodeled buildings around the area.”

The Church is significantly reducing or completely removing nonfunctional turf within Washington County, Utah, and southern Nevada.

Their water-wise landscaping also includes installing drought-tolerant grass mixes through reseeding the property, which uses less water and is more drought-tolerant.