CEDAR CITY — City, county and state officials gathered in the Cedar City Council chambers last week to consider joining forces on water conservation.
A major point of discussion was how to incentivize companies and individuals to use water-saving strategies without creating mandates.
Iron County Commissioner Paul Cozzens said it is best to encourage builders to use water-efficient products, such as water circulators and low-flow toilets because it is cheaper to install them in new buildings than to replace products in existing structures.
Sen. Evan Vickers joined the meeting to share information on applicable state water programs, and Cozzens noted that water appears to be at the top of the Legislature’s mind.
Councilmember Tyler Melling told Cedar City News that the group was “gauging interest,” to see if they would work together to create similar water-efficiency standards throughout the county.
“If we all have similar requirements, the private landscapers, the nurseries and the contractors can also all be on the same page,” he said.
Low flow fixtures
Cedar City Mayor Garth Green said when he began to work on sprinkler systems, everything to do with water was about to change. Manufacturing mandates changed in the ’90s and companies were required to offer 1.6-gallons-per-flush toilets, rather than the standard 3.5-gallon-per-flush toilets. Additionally, homes were installed with 2.5-gallon showerheads under the water-efficiency standards in place at the time.
An American Water Works Association article, copies of which were passed out to attendees, states that the new WaterSense toilet standard is 1.28 gallons per flush, which Green said works well, having installed them in a building he owns in Springville. The new standard for showerheads is 1.7 gallons per minute.
WaterSense is a voluntary program launched by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2006 to help consumers find “high-performing, water-efficient products,” the article states.
The article also reported that WaterSmart homes, studied between October 2020 and September 2021 used a median of 44,000 gallons of water in about a year.
Comparatively, Green estimated that Cedar City citizens use a median of 22,000 gallons per month in the summer. Melling told Cedar City News that residents used a median of 4,000 gallons in the winter, as calculated in 2019.
Green described the difference between the city and WaterSmart home’s usage as “staggering.”
Water Wise landscape designs
Melling said it’s difficult to incentivize the public to conserve water when they are paying low rates unless they are offered a rebate, subsidy or are required to by law.
In that vein, Melling encouraged the group to consider landscaping and outdoor watering. While three 1/2-inch irrigations should be sufficient for 3,000 square feet of turf, many homes in Cedar City have smaller lawns and residents are likely over-watering.
Additionally, Melling asked how much turf should each home ideally has and said other areas offer turf-removal programs. However, landscapers and homeowners should avoid what he called “zeroscaping,” where all grass is removed from a yard and replaced with rocks.
Melling said this method creates “hellscapes,” as the gravel heats up in the sun raising the yard’s ambient temperature.
As an alternative, Melling referenced SoCal Water$mart’s Turf Replacement program, which suggests owners place three plants per 100 feet to prevent the “urban heating effect.”
Additionally, by replacing grass with stone, citizens run the risk of creating greater drainage problems. Melling said that programs in California now require residents to include rain gardens, where deeply-rooted plants are placed in a depression.
The root system creates channels through the soil to percolate water quickly and deeply so that a certain volume of rainwater is captured, reducing the burden on the storm drain system, Melling said.
In Utah, individuals often use “localscapes,” Melling said, which generally utilize 1,000 square feet of turf or less.
Localscapes were created to simplify landscape design in Utah and reduce water use, states the website, noting that such yards use two-thirds less water than traditional approaches.
“Utah is different – our weather, precipitation, climate and even culture are unique from other parts of the country,” the website states. “So, it only makes sense that to grow right, our landscapes need to be different too.”
Melling said regional officials could look for ways to create incentives for developers to add rain gardens and other water-efficient landscaping on a per-lot or per-subdivision basis. Currently, Cedar City has a “simple approach, that’s not very comprehensive,” he said. If builders have covenants that limit turf to 1,000 square feet, the developer can opt into the city’s water conservation tier on the billing system, which gives the developer a discount on their water acquisition fee.
The city doesn’t inspect appliances, yards or measure the amount of turf, Melling said. Instead, the tier allows for enforcement at the meter, and if the homeowner uses more than 12,000 gallons of water per month, they’ll pay a surcharge.
In the future, Melling said that he would like to see vegetation requirements to qualify for the discount, so developers don’t landscape using only gravel.
Additionally, he said the city would benefit from instituting a rebate program for homeowners interested in transitioning. When residents use less water, the city needs less funding for water infrastructure projects and water rights acquisitions, and it will recoup funds at the meter from citizens who overuse it.
Cedar City citizens interested in tracking their water usage can find that data on their water bill, Melling said.
Melling said that Vickers informed him the localscapes program was created through cooperation between water districts in the northern region of the state and created model city codes that could be simplified for use in Iron County.
Central Iron County Water Conservancy District’s conservation manager Jessica Staheli said the organization would love to create uniform water-efficiency standards.
“It helps our community know what’s going on and they’re not confused,” she said.
Utah water conservation programs
The Utah State University Extension office provides education and resources so those interested can learn more about water-efficient landscaping from home, according to its website.
The state Legislature passed House Bill 121, “Water Conservation Modifications,” which allocated $5 million in incentives for Utahns who replace their lawns with drought-tolerant vegetation. Additional rebates, incentives and resources can be found at the Utah Water Savers website.
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