Salt Lake City Water Measures Bear Fruit

Stephanie Duer is Water Conservation Coordinator for Salt Lake City's Department of Public Utilities.

Salt Lake City is a model when it comes to reducing water consumption without sacrificing the fresh and green. The Utah capital was one of the first big metropolitan areas in the country to institute a multi-tiered water fee schedule when it made the move in June, 2003. Water use is down 17 percent this year, versus a drop of eight percent statewide.

The fee schedule provides residents and businesses an incentive to turn faucets off and limit use. Users who exceed certain limits find themselves paying a higher rate. Salt Lake City has other rules that limit irrigation time if water supplies fall below certain levels.

Work remains to be done on another front, however. A planning ordinance on the books now specifies that the city's front yards display ?EUR??,,????'?????<

In October, Duer brought her water-wise gospel to landscape architects at this year's meeting of the American Society of Landscape Architects. Landscape architects bear a special responsibility for setting the machinery of wise water use in motion, she explained.

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