HURRICANE — Near the end of the May 19 meeting of the Hurricane City Council, Mayor John Bramall made the request of residents to conserve water.
Residents are being asked to water grass only in the hours between 8 p.m. and 10 a.m.
“At the moment this is voluntary,” Bramall told St. George News. “It may become mandatory.”
He said that the voluntary restrictions are in place “at least until we get some rain,” adding that the voluntary restrictions apply to city residents but not to agricultural users.
“We have reservoirs and underground wells, but we don’t want to use them up all in one year,” Bramall said.
With 90 percent of Southern Utah in a severe drought, the mayor said city residents need to do the best they can to conserve water.
Beyond the drought conditions and the desert climate, the need to conserve in Hurricane is also important because the city is in one of the fastest growing areas in Utah.
“At our current rate of growth, if we don’t develop more wells and water sources, we’ll be out of water in five years,” Bramall said.
As previously reported in St. George News, the Hurricane City Council voted earlier in the month to raise water rates to address this growth, as well as keep up with inflation. At the May 19 meeting, the mayor said that efforts are underway to apply for grant money for a secondary water system.
“We are and we will continue to develop more water sources,” he said, adding that the city is looking at a secondary water system that will cost in the range of $11 million to $18 million dollars. “That could add another five to 10 years to our water efficiency.”
In the meantime, water conservation is essential to extend the life of existing water reserves.
“We always encourage people to conserve,” Bramall said. “We do live in a desert, and this is a drought year.”
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