APPLE VALLEY — Lush green grass carpeting lawns of new homes in the Town of Apple Valley may soon be a thing of the past. Council members voted unanimously Tuesday night to adopt a landscaping and water conservation ordinance for new homes and developments being built in the High Desert community. “Sixty to 70 percent of water in the High Desert is used outside the home,” said Art Bishop, a board member of the Mojave Water Agency. “Most of it is improper use of irrigation.” Taking measures to conserve water began three years ago when MWA formed AWAC — the Alliance for Water Awareness and Conservation. The group is a collaborative effort of public and private agencies working to promote water conservation. For the last six months AWAC has been hard at work creating an ordinance specifically for the High Desert. “This ordinance helps us put some teeth into water conservation,” said MWA spokesperson Mike Stevens. “This model ordinance is not just for Apple Valley. It’s for the six cities in the High Desert and the County of San Bernardino.” Councilman Scott Nassif said until now, tract and model homes required landscaping but infill homes didn’t — meaning some homes would end up sitting on dirt lots. “The goal was to accomplish a few things: water conservation, town beautification and quality of landscaping,” said Nassif. “All new development, whether it be residential or commercial, will be required to have water conservation landscaping.” Barstow, Victorville and Adelanto have adopted similar ordinances. AWAC and MWA are hoping they’ll take the opportunity to review their new ordinance and hopefully utilize portions of it to conserve more water. “We’re trying to get our citizens and residents to conserve at least 20 percent additional water over what they are currently using,” said Bishop. “That means that’s less water the MWA has to purchase from the state aqueduct and put back in the ground, and then pay to pull it back out.”