WA’s water minister has suggested people rip up their lawns to save valuable resources.

Water Minister Dave Kelly says the state’s sprawling grass yards “from your back step to your back fence” that have no place in parched WA.

Mr Kelly says small section of lawn is acceptable for suburban homes, but anything more is not sensible.

“We still spend 40 per cent of domestic water use in the garden. The days of thinking you need a football field-sized green lawn, that’s not appropriate these days. The days of thinking a backyard should just be lawn are over,” he said.

“One of the problems we’ve got is people think we’ve got a couple of desalination plants, we don’t have a problem. That’s far from the truth. We’re one of the places on the planet most impacted by climate change.”

Perth households are some of the thirstiest in Australia, going through an average 223,000 litres last year, according to Water Corporation data.

Perth’s supplies are propped up by desalination -  a hugely expensive source – while gaining 40 per cent of its supply from groundwater and just 10 per cent from dams.

Mr Kelly said suburban lawns should make up just a small section of the overall garden, with shade trees and water-wise garden beds filling the rest.

“We have to be sensible about it. You can still have an area of lawn in your backyard to enjoy and have the kids play on. My property from the back step to the back fence was lawn and nothing else,” he said.

“It was exposed to the sun and … wasn’t a nice place to be. We reduced the amount of lawn, planted some trees, put in some shade and now it’s much nicer to spend time in and uses a lot less water to maintain.”

Mr Kelly said residents should be more willing to dob in their neighbours if they see them flouting Perth’s two-days-a-week sprinkler roster.

Turf Australia WA executive officer Eva Ricci said it was an “astounding” call.

The lobby says apart from lawns, grassed verges are often essential for car parking.

“Water Corp has done a wonderful job in killing off pride in gardens. People are so phobic about wasting water. People need to get back outside and start to feel nature again,” she said.

Ms Ricci said water-saving should be made through shoulder season sprinkler bans.