Watered down: Watering restriction are just voluntary — for now

Although government offices up and down the state are stopping short of a full-blown panic, there is genuine concern about the state's dwindling water supply heading into summer.

"If we don't start getting some better winters," lamented Tooele city engineer Gerald Webster, "we're in a heap of trouble."

Other municipalities echo Webster's concerns about the statewide drought, which is now in its sixth year. Even though most of Utah had winter snowfall at the end of 2003 and early 2004, the snowpack rapidly diminished during dry months in early spring, resulting in a poor snowpack. Consequently, runoff was not enough to recharge low reservoirs.

A silver lining is that for many sections of the state, the past few weeks have been rainy and temperatures cooler, reducing for a time the need to water lawns and irrigate crops.

So far, mandatory restrictions of water use remain a last resort among cities and towns the Deseret Morning News informally polled for this story. Most say they will monitor the situation closely, while urging residents to voluntarily conserve water.

Salt Lake City's water shortage contingency plan identifies stages of drought and triggers that could lead to mandatory restrictions on water use. The plan weighs water supply against demand.

"As long as folks stay under our supply levels, we can avoid restrictions," said Stephanie Duer, the city's water conservation coordinator.

Sometimes, mandatory restrictions can be counterproductive, she believes. For example, if lawn watering is relegated to certain hours, people still could dump far too much water on their lawns at allowed times. "Denver's moved away from that," she said of mandatory watering times.

"I don't care if you're watering at noon or midnight: If you're overwatering, you're overwatering."

Certain city departments, such as golf courses and parks, are required to reduce their water use by 10 percent. Last year, park water use dropped by 18 percent and golf courses by more than 20 percent. This is accomplished by not watering certain areas as frequently, such as golf course roughs or naturalized regions.

Deseret Morning News graphicConservation need continuesRequires Adobe Acrobat.

A new master plan for landscaping at the Salt Lake City International Airport foresees converting much of the irrigated turf, places that don't host the public, into a naturalized landscape.