Zach Renstrom, the General Manager of the Washington County Water Conservancy District, gave a presentation to the Ivins City Council last week, titled “Recommended Ordinances to Extend Limited Water Supplies.” He listed a number of changes cities in the county can make to reduce water use in new construction.
He has been making this presentation to all the cities in the county and asking them for input on the recommendations. His plan is to hold a “water summit” by December with the goal of getting cities to implement these or similar ordinance changes, hopefully early next year.
How Much Water Can We Save?
Ivins issued 270 housing permits between June of last year and this May. According to Zach’s calculations, the District’s conservation recommendations would reduce water consumption by 48,000 to 58,000 gallons per year per home.
Had Ivins made those ordinance changes a year ago, these new homes would be using 13 to 16 million gallons a year less water. That’s every year. And that’s just Ivins.
I know making these water conservation changes don’t “solve” our water problem. We also need to act quickly on wastewater treatment and other action steps identified in the City’s current Water Conservation Plan. But it is a good first step.
What Are We Waiting For?
As a result of last Thursday’s presentation, I had a long meeting with Zach a couple of days ago to go over about thirty questions I had about his recommendations. It was a productive meeting. I came out of it convinced Ivins should take the lead and adopt his recommendations now, or a version of them that better fits Ivins.
Zach agreed that if Ivins acted now it would likely help stimulate earlier adoption by other cities. The longer we wait, the more water we lose.
So, I sent the Mayor this suggestion:
I emailed the Mayor today, suggesting he create an agenda item for the City Council’s next meeting on October 7th to discuss acting on the WCWCD recommendations. Make it an early agenda item because water is such a critical issue. Then either produce initial recommendations to send to the Planning Commission for their input and public input or instead make it an agenda item for the Planning Commission’s October 5th meeting if you prefer to have them produce recommendations first and get public input quickly.
I know the City’s “process” for ordinance changes is complex, as is this issue. And that makes it important to get public input. Even so, hopefully the City can adopt changes to our ordinances by the end of November for new construction. They may be the recommendations made by the District, or a version of them that better fits Ivins. Keep in mind that Zach’s recommendations are for new construction only.
The Recommendations
Here are the Water Conservancy District’s recommended changes for new housing development, with my comments. The District also has recommendations for commercial development, as well as a plan to add surcharges for the highest volume users, but for the sake of brevity, I’m limiting this to new housing development only.
Indoors
Require hot water recirculating systems, WaterSense toilets and fixtures, and Energy Star appliances. The District estimates the average additional cost would be about $650 and would save 19,400 gallons of water a year for the typical new home. Some developers are already doing some of these, but we can only ensure the water savings if these become requirements.
Outdoors
Here are the District’s recommendations for outdoor conservation measures for new home construction, including all homeowner association areas. The District estimates the cost to implement the landscaping changes would be a little over $3,000 on a 10,000 square foot lot with a water savings of close to 30,000 gallons a year. Pool covers are more expensive, but they could save another 10,000 gallons a year, depending on the pool’s size.
Limit the irrigated landscape area to 2,500 square feet and lawn to 750 square feet. Those limits apply to all lot sizes, whether a 5,000 square foot lot or a 2-acre lot. Locate lawns for functional use only, not decoration. Avoid lawns on parking strips, slopes greater than 25% and areas less than 8 feet wide. Lawns at entries to subdivisions would not be permitted since these are only decorative.
If a new home has an uncovered swimming pool and/or spa, then count the square footage of the pool/spa in the lawn limit. If the pool and spa have a cover, then no deduction from lawn area is needed.
If a new home has a small water feature or fountain, then no adjustments are needed. But if it is a sizable water feature, then count its square footage as part of the lawn area limit. This sounds subjective but using illustrations or better definitions it could be easy to know the difference between smaller and larger water features. Although water features/fountains are permitted for single-family homes, HOA or neighborhood entries would not be permitted to have water features.
Install landscape specific meters at each property. Ivins has required a separate irrigation system for new construction since 2000, but it isn’t operational yet because it would be used when we have a secondary water supply. I believe the District’s recommendation is to meter landscape water use even if all we have currently is culinary water.
Install water-efficient trees and shrubs from an approved list, defining a minimum number of trees based on lot size. Irrigate with a drip system and install water-smart irrigation controllers. Zach noted that in addition to being attractive, grass, shrubs, and trees are all beneficial at regulating heat. He said trees do an even better job at that than grass.
Set In Stone Or Fluid Like Water?
Zach suggested that a developer could ask for a modification of these requirements if a certified report by an approved expert shows that an alternate plan would result in at least as much water conservation.
What Next?
Ivins should take the lead and adopt his recommendations now, or modifications of them that make more sense for our community. I hope the City Council discusses Zach’s recommendations at their next meeting, make it an early agenda item, continue it at every meeting, and get public input. Then, hopefully, make changes to our ordinances by the end of November to adopt significant water conservation measures for new construction. They may be the recommendations made by the District, or a version of them that better fits Ivins. Keep in mind that Zach’s recommendations are for new construction only.
Please share your comments and tell me about other Ivins issues I have not addressed in recent posts. CONTACT ME
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