English 1010
August 6, 2009
When Faucets Don’t Flow
Have you ever had plumbing work done in your home? You may have been through the unfortunate situation of not being able to get a glass of water, flush the toilet, or take a shower because your water is turned off. Sure it may have been for only an hour or two, but what if the water is shut off permanently? We are so accustomed to having water on demand; it heeds our call. Just a turn of the valve and it is there, the fuel of our lives. Without it we would die. But are we sure it will be available the next time we need it?
Americans have taken water for granted. We often forget that there are places in the world, such as villages in Africa, where people have to trek several miles a day to pail water out of a stream. We don’t see their blistered feet; we have amusement parks and swimming pools with millions of gallons of water that we frolic in, and if some water gets into our mouth, we spit it out with disgust. Fortunately, we live in a developed country that has no water shortage problem. Or does it? The Western part of the US, and Utah in particular, do in fact have a serious water shortage problem. “If Utah’s municipal and industrial (M&I) water demands increase at the same rate as its population growth, the state is headed for trouble.” (State of Utah. Division of Water Resources. Conserve Water 1). Even though Utahns have felt this problem at certain times in the past, it may be a bigger problem in the future.
When our forefathers first arrived in Utah they had nothing to greet them but the dry dirt and sagebrush. With blood, sweat and tears they managed to take what little water was available to
sustain them in their new home. Today Utah is a state with a highly developed water supply infrastructure, but we still live in a desert zone. Utah is the second driest state in the US (“Saving Water; Saving Utah” 1). Our annual precipitation is only 13 inches (State of Utah. Division of Water Resources. Conserve Water 1). The western United States receives less precipitation than the rest of the nation. “Water is the life-blood of Utah’s environment. From lush mountain meadows to harsh desert valleys, water holds everything together—making the land inhabitable by people and wildlife.” (State of Utah. Division of Water Resources. Conserve Water 2). If the forecast of global warming is correct, we will likely get even less precipitation.
Another factor contributing to the water shortage problem is our ever-growing population. “From 1990 to 2000, Utah’s population increased by more than 510,000 people to over 2.2 million,” and it is expected to more then double to nearly 5 million during the next four decades (State of Utah. Division of Water resources. Utah’s M&I Water Conservation Plan 1). According to the State Water Plan, we will need an additional 800,000 acre-feet of water supply, and half of this amount supposed to be conserved by the municipal sector (Hooton, par.2).
It is not just the population growth that threatens our future water supply, but the fact that Utahns tend to over consume water now. Thus, if nothing changes, an increased water demand will make the Utah’s water problem worse in the future. According to Utah officials, the state’s residents use about293 gallons of water per person per day (gpcd) compared to 245 gpcd used by the residents of the other Rocky Mountain States (State of Utah. Division of Water resources. Utah’s M&I Water Conservation Plan 1). Some experts say the annual amount of water over-consumption is roughly equal to half of the capacity of Jordanelle Reservoir (“Saving Water; Saving Utah” 1).
So the problem we are facing is very serious. If we don’t conserve water now, in the near future we will have to invest significant capital in water development projects—dams, reservoirs, pipelines, and such. Even worse, we may not even have enough water to satisfy our future needs under any realistic scenario. “… saving water [now] could prevent a jolt to the regional economy. If drought strikes and the lack of water becomes acute, that will cost the state jobs, and ultimately hit all Utahns’ pocketbooks.” (“Saving Water; Saving Utah” 1).
The State of Utah has begun addressing the water shortage problem since the early 90s. The 2003 Utah Water State Plan adopted a 25 percent reduction in the residential water use by 2050, and the good news is that we can easily reach this goal without a major investment. The plan includes a set of recommendations to consumers on how to water lawns properly, use water-wise plants and zero-landscaping. It has information on how to apply for the free Water Check Program and rebates. Also included in the plan are educational programs about water conservation for children and adults. (State of Utah. Division of Water resources. Utah’s M&I Water Conservation Plan 2-17). This plan is only as good as the people participating.
Public places are making some progress in saving water. Have you ever walked into a public bathroom and someone has left the faucet leaking, or maybe even running full blast? Many public bathrooms are eliminating this problem by adding motion sensor activated low flow faucets. When the user walks away the water simply shuts off. Not only do motion sensor fixtures prevent faucets from not being shut off properly, but they also have the added bonus of eliminating the spread of germs. However, many businesses feel that changing their faucets will be too expensive. Some people are afraid that water conservation will require significant changes in their lifestyles, but it is not true. We can start conserving water by taking care of the simplest things in our houses. For example, we don’t pay much attention to a dripping faucet. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, a scientific organization whose goal is to help minimize our wasted resources, a faucet that drips every second wastes up to five gallons a day (1). In the metropolitan Salt Lake area, we have roughly 300,000 households, and over a million faucets total at the very least. If even one in ten faucets leaks, we have 500,000 gallons of wasted water in a single day. By the way, do you have any leaking faucets in your house?
There are many simple everyday tasks that we do without paying much attention to how we use water, such as tooth brushing, dish washing, doing laundry. With a little thought and effort we can conserve water doing every one of them. The Utah Division of Water Resources published the following water-saving tips:
· Perform an annual maintenance check on your evaporative (swamp) cooler. Check for and fix any leaks you find.
· Wash only full loads in your washing machine, or adjust the water level to reflect the size of the load.
· Pay attention to your water bill and become familiar with your water meter—use them to track your water use and detect leaks.
· Purchase appliances that offer water- and energy-efficient cycle options.
· Fix leaky plumbing fixtures, faucets and appliances in the house.
· Show children how to turn off the faucets completely after each use.
· Locate your master water shut-off valve so that water can be saved if a pipe bursts.
· Install aerators on every faucet. This could save you as much as 1 gallon every minute you use them.
· Be aware! Listen for drips and leaks around the house. (State of Utah. Division of Water Resources. Conserve Water 1). These tips alone will not solve the problem, but used in conjunction with our proposed solutions they will get us closer to solving the problem.
So far we talked about the water usage problem inside our houses, but 67 percent of the household water usage in Utah goes towards lawn watering (Figure 2). Sadly, “Utahns use more water than they need” (State of Utah. Division of Water Resources. Utah’s M&I Water Conservation Plan). We often see sprinklers watering sidewalks and driveways instead of lawns, so it is obvious that just by simply adjusting sprinklers we can save water and money.
To learn about the work being done by the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District towards water conservation, we interviewed its representative Kris Sagers. He started by first formulating the problem as follows. “Even though we have low precipitation in Utah, the typical homeowner on average uses about 50” of water to water their yard. The average lawn (Kentucky Bluegrass) requires anywhere from 25-35” of water to maintain. This is definitely the place to start saving.” Sagers then suggested limiting grass to the areas that are flat and primarily used for recreational purposes. Do watering late at night or early in the morning so that the water has time to get down into the root system to feed the lawn. Also make sure that your sprinkler system is getting good coverage, and if needed, space the heads closer together to fix any dry spots. Altering watering patterns to the particular season will help as well--shorter times in the spring and fall, and longer in the hot summer months.
Sagers also suggested using water-wise plants to cut water usage. Utah’s native grasses such as Blue Grama and Buffalo grass require significantly less water—only 0.5” once every 12-14 days. Mulches, rocks, and other hardscapes are also good choices to use instead of grass in places like the mow strips and any areas of the yard that have severe slopes, that require huge amounts of water to keep green. Sagers and his associates work with contractors, nurseries, and cities to promote the advantages of water-tolerant landscaping in new construction.
Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District works in partnership with other water agencies and the State of Utah to promote water conservation. The “slow the flow’ ad campaign is one of the examples. “These ads are currently running on television to make people aware of the need to watch their management of water,” Sagers says. However, these ads only reach a small portion of the target audience.
So here is the situation now. We do have a water crisis, and the people of Utah are aware of it. In a recent Dan Jones & Associates poll, 83% of Utahns felt that it was very important to conserve water, and that 73% strongly supported some sort of ordinance restricting the watering of lawns between 10:00 am and 6:00 pm (Sagers). So, the citizens of Utah are concerned about the water situation, but the question is whether we are doing enough to solve the problem, and the answer is no. When and how do we start to act?
We propose a two-part solution. First, education. We need to start as early as possible by creating programs in school to inform and teach our children of the crisis that we are in. We must raise awareness about the urgency of the situation and the ways they can save water at home. We need more teachers prepared to work with children on water conservation. Students should be provided with more lessons, simple visual aids, and hands-on experiments on the issue in schools.Then, kids and parents, working together can start to see the benefits of these programs in their homes. It should not be a one-time event, but an ongoing process. We also should not forget the well-known fact that many habits we possess are formed in early childhood and are hard to change later in life. That is why all the appeals to conserve water addressed to the adults often fall on deaf ears. To keep adults informed about water saving benefits cities should include pamphlets in the monthly water bill that promote easy water conserving tips.
What adults often understand best are monetary incentives and disincentives. For example, several years ago, Cedar City changed its water billing procedure from a declining rate to a progressive one (Gillespie 2). “For example, residents are charged 48 cents per one thousand gallons of water they use up to 8,000 gallons. From there it jumps to 60 cents per thousand gallons up to 25,000 gallons at which point it tops out at $1.20,” says Cedar City Engineer Kit Wareham, “We’ve seen pretty good declines in water usage.” So part two of our solution is to work out a system of monetary measures that encourages good water usage and discourages waste. It can be modeled on the Cedar City experience or based on current rates used for billing by SLC Department of Public Utilities as shown below (State of Utah. SLC Department of Public Utilities. Billing information 2):
Water Rate Schedule - Rates & Payments
Article IX. Rates And Payments
RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS (SINGLE)
Winter Months (November - March,Inclusive) City Water Rates County Water Rates
All water metered 0.88 $1.19
Summer Months (April - October,Inclusive) City Water Rates County Water Rates
Block 1: 1 through 9 hundred cubic feet of water $0.88 $1.19
Block 2: 10 through 29 hundred cubic feet of water $1.35 $1.83
Block 3: Excess over 29 hundred cubic feet of water $1.88 $2.54
These payments don’t take into account any penalty for excessive or wasteful usage of water. The baseline water use for Utah, established in 1995, is 321 gpcd. Now Utahns consume 293 gpcd, and according to the Utah State Plan, it should be 25% less by 2050 (State of Utah. Division of Water Resources. Utah’s M&I Water Conservation Plan 2). So, the baseline should be re-established in accordance with the plan, and there should be a penalty in the billing system for those who exceed the limit. For example, if we take for baseline 2900 cubic feet of water, it would be:
Block 1(saving): 100 -- 900 cubic feet of water $0.75
Block 2(under baseline): 1000 – 2900 cubic feet of water $1.35
Block 3(exceed or wasteful): over 2900 cubic feet of water $4.00
These numbers are just examples, but the main principle is that a wasteful use of water should be discouraged by significantly higher billing rates. We think it will be a fair solution because if those who waste our water sources don’t pay now, we will all have to pay in the near future. At the same time, people who save water should be rewarded. Part of the revenue can be directed towards children’s educational programs we proposed earlier; the rest will be used for improvement and development of the water infrastructure.
Even though we still have to develop new sources of water, conservation is the easiest way to have enough water in our future. Starting today, if every household saved as little as five gallons of water a day, what would be the result? The yearly savings would be 1825 gallons per household (an average, 73 additional showers), and 547 million gallons per Salt Lake Valley.
So with regard to the water problem in Utah, the bottom line is this. Nature’s gifts such as snowy winters and rainy springs will not always solve the problem—they are only a short-term relief. Many citizens have already internalized this problem, and have started to act—“the State’s residential water use has dropped by 18 percent since 2000” (“Saving Water; Saving Utah” 1), but we need the full participation of everyone in this effort. Water is essential to our way of life and to every living breathing plant and animal upon this earth. If we don’t have water, we will not survive. We are the responsible stewards of this precious resource, so let’s begin today to do something about it before it’s too late. The water is running.
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