Utah Rivers Council (URC) has initiated a new water conservation campaign for Utah called 40 by 30—the goal is to reduce daily water consumption per person 40% by 2030.
Water conservation is necessary to save Utah’s lakes and streams from development and dewatering, and a blueprint for how to do that is detailed in a new report “Alternatives to Bear River Water Development.” The report shows the faulty math that has led to overestimating Utah’s future water needs and describes negative impacts of diverting the Bear River on air quality, wildlife, farming and fishing.
According to the report, the goal can be reached through eight alternatives to big water projects which include conservation pricing, phasing out property taxes that encourage water waste, converting agricultural water, changing landscape ordinances that require grass, metering secondary water, harvesting rain and letting grass turn brown (Don’t worry. It’s only dormant and will turn green again in the spring).
Alternatives to Bear River Water Development utahrivers.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Bear-River-Alternatives.pdf