About 15,000 gallons a year: what artificial turf saves per 1,000 square feet of bluegrass

01How much water does artificial turf save?

About 14,961 gallons a year for every 1,000 square feet of Kentucky bluegrass it replaces.

• CSU Extension puts a Front Range bluegrass lawn’s need at 24 inches of supplemental irrigation in a normal precipitation year: water on top of rain.
• One inch of water on one square foot is 144 cubic inches, and a US gallon is 231 cubic inches. So an inch is 0.623 gallon per square foot, and 24 inches is 14.961 gallons per square foot a year.
• Many lawns get more than that. CSU Extension notes that, community-wide, lawns receive about twice the water bluegrass actually needs. If yours is one of them, you would save more.

The most accurate number is your own. Take a winter month’s gallons off a July bill: the difference is roughly what your yard uses outdoors in a summer month.

02What is that water worth at 2026 rates?

The water you stop using comes off the top of your bill, so it is billed at whatever tier your summer use reaches. The table brackets that: the lowest rate the water could be billed at, and the highest. Your bill shows your tier.

Notes on the table:

• Fort Collins-Loveland Water District has two rate sets, depending on where a tap’s raw water came from. Areas under the City IGA may include Willow Brook/Observatory Village, Fossil Lake, Linden Park, Sage Creek, Harvest Park and Westchase (2026 bill insert).
• Greeley bills against a water budget: Tier 1 is use within your budget, and Tier 4 is use above 151% of it. The 2026 rate manual does not publish the budget formula, so ask Greeley Water whether a smaller lawn changes your budget before you count on dropping a tier.
• Little Thompson Water District gives every tap an annual allotment. Above it, a standard 5/8-inch tap pays an extra $10.00 per 1,000 gallons and other residential taps $20.00 (Schedule C). Its rates changed mid-year, on April 17, 2026. Its fee schedule also lists a Firestone in-city surcharge of 6 percent of usage and base fee; Barefoot Lakes is inside Firestone, so ask the district whether it applies to your tap.
• ELCO does not publish its per-gallon residential rates online. It does publish a conservation charge: $5.61 more per 1,000 gallons once you pass an annual allotment based on lot size (rate information). Use the rate on your bill.
• North Weld County Water District includes the first 6,000 gallons a month in its $31.14 monthly charge, so water saved in a month that stays under 6,000 gallons is worth $0 on the bill; the table’s $5.19 applies only to gallons above that. Homes on the Eaton and Severance town systems pay their town’s rates, not these.
• RainDance in Windsor waters with non-potable irrigation water at $4.53 per 1,000 gallons. Its annual capital fee of $277.68 per unit does not change with use.
• Loveland’s figures come from the 2026 rate schedule in a City Council packet; the utility’s own rates page could not be read when we checked.
• Not in the table yet: the town water systems of Johnstown, Berthoud, Firestone, Frederick, Evans, Milliken, Eaton, Severance, Wellington and Dacono, and the Left Hand and Central Weld County water districts. For a 1,000 sq ft lawn, multiply the rate per 1,000 gallons on your bill by 14.961.

03Which water provider am I on?

The one named on your bill, not your town. Several Northern Colorado towns are split between providers:

• Windsor buys most of its water from North Weld County Water District, with Greeley and Fort Collins-Loveland Water District as secondary suppliers (Town of Windsor). Windsor residents who live in Larimer County are Fort Collins-Loveland Water District customers, and the Harmony Ridge and Alexander Estates subdivisions are served by North Weld (utility services by other agencies).
• Fort Collins addresses may be on Fort Collins Utilities; on Fort Collins-Loveland Water District, which also serves parts of Loveland, Timnath and Windsor; on ELCO, north and east of the city; or on North Weld County Water District in some eastern areas.
• Mead has been in Little Thompson Water District’s service area since 2002, and Little Thompson also serves the Barefoot Lakes subdivision in Firestone.
• Frederick homes east of I-25 are on Town of Frederick water; west of I-25 they are Left Hand Water District customers.

04What do these dollar figures leave out?

• Your monthly base charge. It stays the same.
• Sewer. We have not checked how each provider bills it.
• Water the turf area still uses: rinsing a dog run, and the beds and trees around it.
• Mowing, fertilizer and sprinkler repairs.
• Rate changes. Windsor’s 2026 rates took effect February 1 and Little Thompson’s on April 17; we re-check every row each January.

Set the yearly figure against a written quote for your yard before you decide.

05Can I download the data?

Yes. The table is also a CSV: noco-water-rates-2026.csv. Each row has the provider, the towns, the pricing model, the effective date, the base charge, the lowest and top rates, the derived gallons and dollars, and the source link and the date we checked it. Reuse it under CC BY 4.0 with credit to NoCo Turf Co. and a link to this page.