A good way of predicting the regulatory and funding future of things environmental is to observe successful projects and favored trends in various states.
Here are some examples.
Southern Nevada Water Authority including Las Vegas: a 50% landscaping limit on new residential properties, no ornamental lawns for non-residential development, and promotion of smart landscaping and smart landscape irrigation.
Smart landscaping means use of vegetation that requires minimal moisture, as well as use of decorative rock, stone and other such materials instead of grass, plants, trees and shrubs.
Indian Wells, California: this city has reduced water consumption by 60% through an integrated water consumption approach to irrigation including sprinkler spacing, native plants, pressure regulated sprinklerheads and smart controllers.
South Carolina: more than 26,000 retention ponds on the eastern coastal part of the state.
Missouri: The Deer Creek Watershed Alliance, with 21 different municipalities participating, is focused on switching out grass for native plants as a way of controlling flooding and erosion problems along the 100,000 miles of stream in the watershed area.
Farmers will tell you there is always too much rain or not enough rain.
In our vast country we experience both droughts and floods at the same time, ass well as record snowfalls and record lack of snowfall.
Therefore in landscaping and runoff the strategies are designed both to make do with significantly less moisture as well as to manage significantly greater amounts of water.
In your planning consider the trends.
You are likely to gain approval and support if you go with the trends.
In this case, it is a matter of doing what works.