BY JON CALL

The state, county, secondary water providers, North Ogden City, and many residents are concerned about the ability of Utah to continue to use water in the manner we have for the past 100 plus years. Right now, there is no magic bullet on what to change and how to change it; however, it is one of those topics where every little bit counts and all of the efforts by individuals adds up to significant changes and conservation of this limited natural resource. A good example is the role of one of the North Ogden City employees who spends a few hours each day reviewing the meter trends in North Ogden City and looks for leaks or problems which most homeowners probably have not noticed. Depending on the month, it appears that we are seeing reduction in the use of culinary water across the city by approximately 500,000 to 1,000,000 gallons a month.

Some of those leaks were dumping tens of thousands of gallons of water a day into the ground outside a home which may not have been discovered for twenty or thirty days. Others are toilets that are malfunctioning, which may not be as serious of a misuse of water, but it still has an impact on the citywide water use. With this new program, we are able to catch these issues quickly and work with the property owner to fix the plumbing and save the water.

The mayor and council have put water conservation at the top of their list, while still providing the flexibility for residents to use culinary water on vegetable gardens and other limited uses when the secondary water is turned off towards the end of the summer and in the early fall.

RESOURCES

There are tons of resources through the state, local universities, and various nonprofit organizations who have a passion for water conservation. We encourage everyone to see what they can do to help, especially at this time of drought.
Here are a few websites with great information:

1 – conservewater.utah.gov/
2 – slowtheflow.org
3 – extension.usu.edu/waterquality/conservation/