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By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent

Every living person uses one acre foot or 257,539 gallons of culinary water per year and now is the time to make certain that much water is available for residents of the area to meet future needs.

Adrian Hinton, the area's urban horticulturist with the Utah State University Extension program, and Jeff Banks, USU Extension agent in Juab County, attended Nephi City Council meeting to explain the necessity of adopting water conservation methods.

Hinton said a program offering free water checks will be available to water users in the area to help conserve this valuable resource.

"On the average, each household has 3.4 people which means a per capita water use rate of 208 gallons per person per day," said Hinton.

Of the gallons of water used, he said, only 33 percent of the total water is used indoors during the year and 67 percent is used outdoors during a six-month period.

Most Utah residents landscape more than 60 percent of their lot which, on average, is 0.32 acres. "In 1998, the Utah State Legislature passed the Water Conservation Plan Act," said Hinton. "This law required every water conservancy district to prepare a water conservation plan and educate the public on ways to save water."

In 1999, Jordan Valley and the Central Utah Water Conservancy Districts hired a public relations firm to produce a multimedia program called, "Slow the Flow, Save H20 (water). The program offers free "water checks" to homeowners provided by USU Extension.

A landscape water check is a series of tests on a watering system to determine how much water each individual homeowner's system puts out (precipitation rate), the soil absorption rate (infiltration) and the evenness of the water application (distribution uniformity).

Hinton said Utah residents need to learn to use all the water we want but need all the water we use.

Irrigation systems, said Hinton, are less than 60 percent efficient. There are dry spots and lots of watering of concrete walks and asphalt roads occurs.

"In the past two years, 1,448 residential water audits have been completed in four counties and 46 cities along the Wasatch Front," said Hinton. "The average homeowner along the Wasatch Front, including Nephi, uses twice as much water during the landscape year as the law requires for optimal growth."

Most people water too often and don't wet the soil down 10-inches deep. The shallow watering pattern results in an average root depth of only 5.4-inches.

In addition, said Hinton, the average water pressure in the irrigation lines is 47 psi, which is too high for general pop-up heads and too low for impact spray heads.

"We would like to get the 'Slow the Flow' program going in Nephi during the 2001 season by getting the approval of the city's leadership&emdash;the council&emdash;and getting information out to city residents," said Hinton.

It is planned to put notices in the newspaper during April and to place notices in utility bills to go out the first of May.

City residents will be asked to call the toll free number: 1-877-SAVEH2O or 1-877-728-3420.

Water checks will then be scheduled with local residents for the months of June and July 2001. Municipal and business areas such as parks and open areas will be scheduled for checks during July.

The water checks will help determine not only how much water was being used before the checks were done but how much water is conserved as a result of the study.

"We will then follow up with data collection for the next three years," said Hinton. "We will provide data to all concerned."

During periods of drought, which is likely to be the case this summer, efficient use of water is particularly important.

"We all need to learn to 'use all the water we want, but need all the water we use,'" said Hinton.

Many homeowners, have a tendency to use poor watering habits. They water during the hot part of the day, which is not good. Most watering should be done in the cool of the early evening hours.

"Our secondary irrigation water system is not metered," said Chad Brough, mayor. Therefore, it would be difficult for those conducting the water checks to determine use before and after conservation methods were adopted.

Culinary water systems customers who use the metered water for both inside and outside use could be easily measured for before and after results, said Brough. That measurement might help determine the conservation which could occur on the secondary system.