FLIP Tampa // Credit: City of Tampa
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As Tampa Bay faces historic drought conditions, Hillsborough County and the University of Florida are providing an option for Hillsborough residents to save water.
But there’s way people can be eligible for a financial incentive if they take steps to reduce outdoor irrigation.
The Florida Friendly Landscaping Incentives program, or FLIP, is a 3-part program with the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
Hillsborough residents will learn how to reduce outdoor irrigation by converting part of their lawn to a “water wise landscape” – replacing regular turf with mulch, drought-tolerant plants, and tree cover.
After making the changes to their lawns, they would be eligible to apply for a rebate.
Anthony Halcyon is Hillsborough County’s Senior Environmental Scientist of Water Conservation.
“There’s several principles that are ‘Florida Friendly’. And there there are things like, you know, introducing pollinators into the lawn and being water conservation friendly, using native or non native adaptive plants for droughts.” Halcyon told WMNF.
He says it couldn’t come at a more crucial time.
“We do have a seasonal drought in Florida. In fact, we’re approaching the peak of it in April. So it’s kind of addressing the seasonality of Florida in a natural way that perhaps turf grass doesn’t do as well.” Halcyon said.
The 3-part workshop occurs one Saturday a month in March, April and May.
You’d need to be using Hillsborough or Tampa’s potable water to apply for the rebate.