Same as above! :)

Same for me - So beautiful!

I can appreciate your dilemma, but I wish my lawn was as green as yours;)

Do what golf courses do: establish a "greens" and a "rough". The "greens" would be a small groomed play and relaxation area nearest the house, a good turf grass of the low water kind. Some of the new mixes and hybrids are very unthirsty when established.

Look into seeding the semi-domesticated native grasses: Buffalo Grass and Blue Grama Grass, bluestem, or a good local pasture mix for the rough and pasturing areas.

A small patch of "Hachita" variety of blue grama has been growing in my front yard in Phoenix on zero care - I scattered the seeds as an experiment. It's getting roof runoff and that's all. I have UC Verde buffalo grass in back, but it's a sterile variety and has to be plugged ... $$$$$ for your acre. Seeds would be affordable.

Different varieties of Buffalo and Grama are available from seed: Hachita is short (maybe 6-9 inches, unmowed) and others range up to knee-high. Buffalo grass gets 9-12 inches tall, unmowed. Blue Grama has cute seed heads ... little pennants along the stem that curl and look like eyelashes when it's ripe.

One way to easily do the conversion is to mow the existing grass short in the "rough" area, scatter the new grass seeds in the fall, rake them in, and let them do what they do. They'll soak up the winter rains, maybe some will germinate that fall, some in the spring, maybe some the next fall. If you don't supplement the water for the old lawn grass, it should be out-competed by the natives and slowly die out.

Synthetic grass has come a long way....the secret is in the installation. Doesn't have to be everywhere. Combine with the natural grasses per tsud and you can really cut down on maintenance and water needs

Look into local native landscapers. Planting natives around the perimeters or in islands can decrease the demands of a water thirsty lawn and naturalize your landscape and attract wildlife.

also, not sure of your average rainfall, but have you looked into rain/water harvesting and using that for landscape watering?

Thanks for all your suggestions. We are entering the rainy season soon and the old lawn will green up but next year we'll be back to the watering and mowing dilemma. We have plenty of water in our wells, the problem has been paying for the power to pump it to the irrigation system. I really like Tsudhonimh's suggestion of greens and roughs. We could get pretty creative and also see where nature takes us over time. Will have to do some research on the varieties and source the seed. I have also thought about tilling and resurfacing an area on the lower lawn for a turnout screened by a hedge. Any suggestions on what would establish most quickly to 4 ft height?