By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
Utahns are widely regarded as among the most wasteful water users in the nation and Nephi is one of the worst water wasters in the state.
Randy McKnight, city administrator, gave Nephi City Council an update on the water supply conditions in the city.
"According to national statistics, Utahns use more water than their neighbors across the West," said McKnight.
Utah is the second-driest state in America and Utahns are the second-most prolific consumers of water in the nation. The state receives the second lowest annual rainfall at 13-inches of rain on average in one year.
Utah's baseline rate of water consumption per person, per day, is 295 gallons, according to Utah Division of Water Resources Conservation Program data. Only Nevada uses more.
Nephi residents are the largest users of water in the state and voluntary conservation is needed. Some of the efforts are bearing fruit.
"Water conservation efforts at city facilities and efforts by other users have also been effective in helping to manage demand," said McKnight. "We hope residents will be patient with locations that do not look as green as normal."
It is a step in the right direction.
Utah hopes to achieve a statewide conservation goal of slicing its use by 25 percent over the next 11 years. Even then, per capital consumption will still far exceed the 130 gallons New Mexicans consume, or the 165 gallons used per person in Denver. So far the state, according to the Division of Water Resources Conservation, has conserved 18 percent.
McKnight said that time-of-day watering restrictions are in place in Nephi year round and will be enforced.
It is hoped that the supply of culinary water for residents can be met for the summer season without having to impose stricter conservation methods.
"Recent cooler weather has reduced some of the strain on water supplies," said McKnight. "Warmer weather is back in the forecast, however, and the need for conservative water use continues."
Sixty percent of Utah's municipal water is used outside.
McKnight said that the equipment at the two city wells being used to pump water to the culinary storage tanks and to the irrigation pond needed a back-up in case of problems.
"The reliable operation of those wells (the Equipment Shed Well and the Jones Well) is especially key this summer," said McKnight. "We are exploring the purchase of an electric motor that can serve as a back-up replacement for the motors on the pumps at these wells, if one of them were to have problems."
Work continues on the feasibility study examining the possibility of extending the pressurized secondary irrigation system to serve all of the community.
Many residences have to use culinary water for outside watering because the system is not available to all homes.
Some irrigation water users in the area are not metered.
"Implementation of the city's water system master plan will be required in order to meet the water needs of a growing community," he said.
According to the Utah Division of Water Resources Conservation Program data, the state is headed toward a water emergency that will soon require construction of $2 billion in water projects, this number fluctuates from year to year, but is important because water officials have used it as a starting point for conservation efforts and future projections.
Part of the reason that Utahns use more water per capita, is that, in most areas of the state, consumer water use charges are low, said McKnight.
Rock-bottom water costs, typically reliable and abundant water sources and a longstanding desire for non-native plants and thirsty Kentucky Bluegrass contribute to Utah's high water use.
When the state's population doubles by 2060, as state census data predicts, the state's water system will be strained. Through a combination of modest conservation, more efficient delivery and major water projects this demand can be met.
Utah could provide enough water for its booming economy and population if it merely solved the problem of being high water consumers. Conserving water, according the Division of Water Resources, would save taxpayers billions while leaving the strained Colorado and Bear rivers—the sites of the state's future water projects—alone.
