"It's fun to poke fun at California and I suppose we deserve it. Please know that we laugh at you guys and the endless annual "snowmageddon" stories (and being a former east coaster, I revel in those stories, so please don't stop--they make my winter each year). Plus, the story above it's sensationalism at it's best; a great way to get attention to an article that is filled mostly with fluff. The reality here locally in the Bay Area is much different and (of course) more complex. Few people in my area are painting their lawns. You don't actually even hear much about it. In fact, I just went and did a Yelp search for "Lawn Painting" in the seven Bay Area counties and only found two companies offering it. Granted, you do hear about lawn painting in some other areas (i.e. **real** suburbia) where the 1950's-60's "keeping up with the Joneses" mentality still prevails.The **real** problem is not painting lawns--I could care less if they do it--as long as it is really non-toxic (probably isn't). But a bigger problem for me in my eyes is that some are still actually **watering** their lawns in the thick of the drought.  In the face of higher water rates, potential fines, scorn from their neighbors, etc., they're still watering regardless. Some folks aren't even trying to hide it or be slick about it. They aren't even waiting before or after the mandated time frame (varies on the community, but often before 8am and then after 6pm, to reduce loss to evaporation), they just water, water, and water some more. I saw one house where they'd just left a sprinkler on for a good hour or more. And in the Bay Area, let's face it, due to the price of land, most of us have postage-stamp size yards anyway, so really, what's the deal on watering that 20' x 20' thing for a couple hours? What good are you doing?Other situations where you have automatic sprinklers, people have pop up heads that are broken, and sprays aren't adjusted, or systems that are inefficient and old. So much could be done with drip systems, fabric, mulch, and using native plants (or ornamental edibles, IMHO).In my household, we're in the spirit, cutting water use by about 30% in comparison to bills from this same time in past years. And yes, Rain, as you point out, we're doing it by letting some non-native plants die and pull them out, replacing them with succulents, cacti, and native plants. We also have tried replacing a portion of the lawn with a drought tolerant ground cover, with mixed results. For now, though, that new groung cover is all we have, as the rest of the lawn has been left to die. But beyond that, not mentioned in your article, we're also doing larger, longer term things like we replaced an old toilet with a high water saving dual-flush model. I already had an efficient and green front loader washer and dryer, so not much we can do there. And we really, really, really miss our tub, but shorter showers will do for now.Sorry to ramble on, but just a few thoughts from the front lines of the drought!"