There will be a public hearing on a proposed water conservation ordinance for new construction at either the City Council’s May 5th meeting or its May 19th meeting. (Download the draft.) Granted, reading this ordinance isn’t going to be a lot of fun. But it’s all about our future. So please download the draft ordinance and send the City Council your comments and/or speak at the upcoming public hearing. (email addresses at https://www.ivins.com/2020-government/)
Some of us would probably recommend no grass, no pools, no water features because we are in a severe drought. But it’s unlikely that would be approved. Some of us would probably say that since we pay for the water we use we should be able to do what we want. Given our water situation, that’s also unlikely to be approved.
Please help us navigate between these two extremes. Also, keep in mind that this new ordinance will only apply to new construction. The Washington County Water Conservancy District is working on other actions to encourage water conservation in existing development.
Please share your comments on this topic and tell me about other Ivins issues I have not addressed in recent posts. Email me at Mike@MikeScott4Ivins.com.
Recent “Water” posts
- Wells Get By With A Little Help From…A 1993 report, titled “Utah State Water Plan: Kanab Creek/Virgin River Basin,” highlighted a critical challenge: “In general, irrigation water needs exceed supply. This accents the need for wise management and conservation of water. Monitoring of groundwater storage would be imperative to prevent mining.” Are we paying attention to that advice? The U.S. Geological Survey…
- Overview Of The 2024 Water YearThe Virgin and Santa Clara rivers had a combined streamflow of just over 112,000 acre-feet of water in the 12 months ending in September. This is more than the median streamflow of 96,000 acre-feet a year since 2006. And it’s more than all but seven of the nineteen years we’ve collected data for. At first…
- Finally… A New General PlanThe 2024 Ivins City General Plan was approved in November 2024. It is the primary guiding document and the principal tool to be used to create the future of Ivins. It tells the story of what Ivins was, is and ought to become through thoughtful and careful planning based on the vision, values, goals, and…
- Concerns About Contaminants in Dry Wash ReservoirChuck Gillette, the Ivins City Director of Public Works presented an analysis of risks from the potential accumulation and spread of PFAS and other heavy metals in the proposed Dry Wash Reservoir. Here is his presentation (Download PDF). Here’s a video version of the presentation slides. Pause the video for any slides you want to…
- Field of StreamsIt was pointed out at last Thursday’s City Council meeting that dredging Gunlock Reservoir could increase its storage capacity by 3,000 acre-feet. That has been suggested a lot in recent months. Why not do that instead of creating the much smaller Dry Wash Reservoir? It sounded like a good idea. The Reservoir was designed to…