There's one good thing about the drought now gripping the Wasatch Front — it's got people conserving water.

The two main water providers in the Salt Lake Valley — Jordan Valley Water and the Salt Lake/Sandy Metropolitan Water District — report water users are consuming 15 percent to 20 percent less this year than they did in 2000.

"The public's response to water conservation has been exceptional,"said Bart Forsyth, assistant general manager of Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District. Forsyth told the Salt Lake County Council on Tuesday that water levels are "the worst I've seen" since the drought began six years ago.

The council has been considering ratcheting up its water conservation ordinance from "advisory" status — wherein residents are urged to adopt several water conservation measures — to "moderate" or "critical," wherein residents are mandated to conserve or face citations.

Such conservation measures include watering between 6 p.m. and 10 a.m., watering each time for less than 15 minutes (for pop-up sprinkler heads) or 30 minutes (for rotating heads), limiting fleet vehicle washes to once a week, covering swimming pools and (for restaurants) serving water only upon request.

After batting the mandatory idea around, council members decided against it. But they plan to revisit the issue in July.

Generally, local governments have been reluctant to mandate water conservation, preferring — at least initially — to operate through persuasion. Salt Lake City, for example, has mandatory watering limits on its own properties but has not extended that to residents.

"We feel the first institution that should step up to the plate and conserve water is the municipality itself," Salt Lake water conservation coordinator Stephanie Duer said.

Salt Lake residents nevertheless are operating under a "tiered" water rate system, which operates like the graduated income tax system: Residents are charged the lowest rate for water up to 9 cubic feet per month (enough for basic household use), a higher rate for 10 to 29 cubic feet (allowing for outdoor watering) and the highest rate for anything beyond that.

Duer said the intent is for most people to be within the second tier, which has water conservation built in — average household use during the summer months is 32-34 cubic feet.

The pleasantly surprising extent of water conservation, Forsyth and Duer said, is making the drought manageable — so far. Residents who collectively have changed their practices must change them even more as the summer wears on, and beyond that if the drought continues into another year.

"We don't know how long the drought's going to last," Forsyth said. "Even the Central Utah water (special project water that is still in relatively good shape) can't outlast Mother Nature."

The real crunch, Forsyth said, is not going to come this go-round, unless the drought length reaches truly historic proportions. This drought is basically serving as a practice run for next time, when rapid Wasatch Front growth and static or even diminishing water supplies, already on a collision course, will come together in a potentially ugly fashion.

"It's the next drought that's going to take Salt Lake County to its knees" unless conservation practices change dramatically, Forsyth said.

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E-mail: aedwards@desnews.com