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SALT LAKE CITY — It’s no secret. The Western U.S. is experiencing extreme drought conditions. On Wednesday, California Gov. Jerry Brown took major action, calling on everyone, businesses and residents included, to cut back on their water use by 25 percent. Utah is experiencing major drought conditions now too. What if we were asked to cut back?
The numbers vary a bit, but on average each person uses about 100 gallons of water a day at home. Kitchen faucets, bathroom sinks, toilets, showers, tubs … it all adds up: thousands and thousands of gallons each year.
And this year, we’re encouraged to conserve every drop we can. One of the major reasons, according to Randy Julander, with the Natural Resource Conservation Service, is that Utah’s snowpack is the lowest it’s been in more than three decades. “The only positive thing we can possibly say out of this water year right now is 'At least we're not California!'"
Julander checked many of the 35 snow survey sites in Utah just last week. “It was bad. You could drive to a lot of the places. The snowpack is that bad.”
There’s a bit of positive news, in that Utah’s storage reservoirs are on average 65 to 70 percent full. But they’ll be depleted badly this summer, Julander says. “Bear Lake is not going to fill; Porcupine is not going to fill. On the Weber you look at Echo, East Canyon, Lost Creek, Willard Bay and Pine View. Most of those are not likely to fill,” he says.
If Mother Nature isn’t cooperating, what can we as individuals do? Let’s assume that we’ve also been asked to cut back 25 percent of our home water use. A number of websites can help you calculate how water-wise you are. In most residential areas, Americans spend more of their water budgets outside, watering lawns, shrubs and gardens.
Inside, bathrooms are where we use the most water. A full bathtub can use as much as 36 gallons, for example. A 10-minute shower can use 20 to 40 gallons, depending on the type of shower head used. Dishwashing can use up to 20 gallons per wash.
Under the 25 percent reduction scenario, can we cut back? Sure.
Instead of a 10-minute shower every day, cut it down to seven minutes. Flushing isn’t required EVERY time you use the toilet. Do you leave the faucet running while brushing your teeth? Don’t! That outside sprinkler timer box? Eliminate a watering day per week, or, if it has a “water budget” setting, set to 75 percent.
“Do whatever you can do to conserve water in this particular situation, by watering appropriately," Julander says. “And it doesn't hurt your lawn to go a little brown here and there.”
During a normal year, Utah’s spring runoff peaks in late May and early June. But not this year, Julander says. The creeks and streams will be about a month early, reaching their high flow mark later this month.
