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ST. GEORGE — Mayor Michele Randall on Tuesday delivered the State of the City address to her city, which just happens to be at the heart of fastest-growing metro area in the nation.
A 2022 report from the U.S. Census said that the St. George area's population grew by nearly 10,000 new residents between July 1, 2020, and July 1, 2021 — a 5.1% increase. The metro area — a statistical area that includes all of Washington County — grew to 191,226 residents, according to the report.
John Willis, St. George's city manager, said that the city is hovering around 100,000 total residents.
"It's crazy to think about but, historically, St. George has been the fastest-growing city in the nation for several years," Willis said. "People want to be here, people want to live here, people want to raise their families here — and that's one of the reasons why our growth and our population continues to rise."
While population growth certainly contributes positively to economic vitality and a thriving job market, it also brings bigger, looming issues — specifically water use — into focus.
"None of the growth we've experienced would be possible without water," Randall said. "Although we've had a very wet year this year ... we still have a lot of challenges when it comes to water."
Last year, the Washington County Water Conservancy District announced an ordinance banning "nonfunctional grass" at any new commercial, institutional and industrial developments.
It also bars new golf courses unless the developers can provide their own nonpotable water source for irrigation and require secondary and reused water for outdoor irrigation "where available," a practice the county already used for parks, government facilities and some residential neighborhoods.
The ordinance was projected to help conserve nearly 11 billion gallons of water over the next decade, according to the district.
Currently, Washington County is in a moderate drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Randall said that the city and county are still looking at ways to establish new water sources. On the conservation front, the city has taken multiple steps to address the water shortage.
The first of these is the removal of turf, something Randall said the city has made "great strides" in.
"In the past two years, our parks division has removed more than 60,000 square feet of grass," Randall said.
This turf removal has taken place at medians in roadways and city offices, with the grass being replaced with xeriscaping, a landscaping method that utilizes native flora and fauna while reducing or even eliminating the need for irrigation.
As a result of turf removal initiatives, St. George saved 275 million gallons of water, Randall said.
The focus on water conservation has also spread to a major source of recreation in the area — golf courses.
You can actually treat this water and make it potable. That's what they're doing in Las Vegas, and I know it sounds horribly disgusting but it just might come to that with water.
– St. George Mayor Michele Randall
The U.S. Geological Survey's most recent water use data for Utah shows the state uses about 38 million gallons of water on golf courses per day — enough to fill almost 58 Olympic-size swimming pools.
To curb this water use, the city planted tall fescue grass in out-of-bounds and rough areas. The idea behind this is that as the grass grows taller, it retains its moisture.
"By doing that, in 2021 alone, we saved 88.5 million gallons of water at the golf course, and then another additional 25 million gallons in 2022 on top of that," Randall said.
The city is also in the second phase of its wastewater treatment plant project that seeks to create a regional secondary water system that would help replace the use of culinary, or drinking quality water, for outdoor watering with secondary, or irrigation-quality water.
"You can actually treat this water and make it potable. That's what they're doing in Las Vegas, and I know it sounds horribly disgusting but it just might come to that with water," Randall said.
Along with this, the city will be retrofitting four oxidation ditches to give them the capacity to treat 24 million gallons of wastewater per day. Previously, the oxidation ditches only had the capacity to treat 17 million gallons of wastewater per day.
Randall also said that the city is planning to build a reservoir on city-owned property near Graveyard Wash off Old Highway 91 to store reuse water.
"It's going to store up to, I think, 12,000 or 14,000 acre-feet of water. During the winter, we can pump our reuse water up to this reservoir and save it for the summertime," Randall said. "Right now, we're just treating that water and sending it downriver to Lake Mead."
Hopefully, for a city, county and state in desperate need of it, these initiatives will be more than just a drop in the bucket when it comes to balancing breakneck population growth with water use.
