Conservation key but harder to sell

PROVO — Fresh snow covered the Y above Provo on Wednesday while rain fell in the valley below, symbols of the end of Utah's six-year drought and the start of a new problem for the state's water experts.

They must persuade Utahns to continue to conserve water while the state's rivers brim with it and flooding and mudslides dominate the news.

A ticking population time bomb is the reason experts want residents to keep cutting back on watering their lawns this summer. The state must prepare to spread its water supply among a population expected to double by 2050.

With that long-term outlook in mind, it was easy, despite Wednesday's soggy conditions, for two experts from Utah State University to maintain straight faces as they preached conservation during a workshop with Provo's largest water users.

"It's not about the drought any more, it's about a population increase," said Rachel Lopez, a water expert with the USU extension service.

Lopez and USU colleague Molly Waters are urging state and city officials to use the media to drive home the new message.

"The drought and water conservation have been inexorably linked over the past six years," Waters said. "It's been a blessing and a curse. The media carried our message about water conservation, but it was always in the context of the drought. Now the drought is over but the problem of population growth is still here."

This is the third year Provo has gathered its largest turfgrass irrigators, which include Brigham Young University, the city's Parks and Recreation Department, the Provo School District and churches. The first meeting was called to plead for help because of the drought, public works director Merrill Bingham said, but he also said a wet year isn't the time to stop.

"It's not a drum you beat in the dry years and then put away in the wet years," he said. "It's a drum you beat all the time."

Utahns and Provoans have cut their water usage drastically during the drought. In 1995, Utahns used 321 gallons of water per person every day. Now the state average is 267. Provo was as high as 326 gallons per person per day but is now at 224.

"We think we're doing pretty good," Bingham said. "Can we do more? I think we can. I think we can get under 200."