City officials urge residents to slow the flow of irrigation water

LOGAN – In response to the continuing drought in northern Utah, Logan Mayor Holly Daines says that the city is adopting the slogan that “Yellow is the new green.”

“We’re received a lot of questions about what we can all do about the water situation,” Daines said during a routine report to members of the Logan City Council on Tuesday. “I just want to let our residents know that our Water Department put out a really good press release with that kind of information just last week.”

That statement emphasized that drinking water is not in short supply and that mandatory water restrictions are not yet necessary.

But conservation of available water is needed now, according to Daines.

We are requesting that residents decrease the frequency of their watering (of lawns and gardens),” the mayor explained, “just as our Parks Department has cut their water usage by half.”

Officials of the city Water and Wastewater Department say they have been preparing for a situation like this one for years by developing strong water sources.

While Logan’s culinary water supply is adequate to provide for all normal demands, city water managers advise that their “safety buffer” will continue to decrease as the summer progresses.

Since the vast majority of summer water demand is for outdoor irrigation purposes, city officials say that modifying watering schedules is the most effective way to reduce water usage.

They suggest that lawns and gardens should be watered no more than two or three times per week. That watering should take place between 6 and 10 p.m., preferably on evenings when the wind is relatively calm.

City officials also advise that sprinkler systems should be kept in good repair or replaced with more efficient drip systems.

Finally, they add that residents should let their lawns grow to 3- to 4-inch lengths to help them survive or let their lawns go entirely dormant.

“When you see our parks starting to turn brown instead of green,” Daines told the council members, “that just means that our lawns are going dormant because we’ve cut back on the watering.

“We encourage residents to do the same and to bear with us when our parks are not in the impeccable condition that city workers usually keep them.”

Local residents can obtain advice on ways to reduce their outdoor water use by scheduling e a free water check by calling 435-797-5529 or going online to www.cwel.usu.edu/watercheck

City officials also emphasize that they are reluctantly ready to impose mandatory water restrictions if drought condition worsen, unforeseen circumstances arise or voluntary water conservation efforts fail.

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6 Comments

  • Kramer July 23, 2021 at 2:33 pm Reply

    Someone needs to go around to all the commercial business and churches with giant lawns whos automated sprinklers go on every night wasting water. Residents can only do so much but until the city enforces this on the business owners too we will be a town of dead lawns and business with luscious green grass that got to use water ever night for the entire summer….but thebmayor wants the residents to blame and hold the responsibility…..get your code enforcers out to the local businesses insyeadnof continuing to harass residents mininal usage

  • Kramer July 23, 2021 at 7:22 pm Reply

    Went for a drive through campus today….multiple sprinklers running on thick green grasses owned by the university. Mayor daines needs to stop lecturing the residents if she0s not going to mention the LDS churches and usu campus water

  • Shauna July 23, 2021 at 8:45 pm Reply

    The mayor of Logan has a lot of room to about slowing the flow on irrigation water when they water the parks everyday along with the cemetery. The dead in the cemetery doesn’t care if the grass is green or not. I don’t see them giving up any water for the farmers. I don’t see USU going without watering their grass so farmers can grow food. I don’t see the school districts forgoing watering the grass so the farmers can grow food. I don’t see the city do anything to get the apartments to water less than 3 days a week for over a half an hour at a time when watering multiple areas of large grassy areas. I don’t see people watering less than normal. I’m tired of the city telling people what they should be doing and yet turn their backs on what they are asking of others. It is time the city show by example instead of just telling others what to do.

  • skeetr July 26, 2021 at 8:57 am Reply

    Residential irrigation only accounts for 6% of total water usage. Putting the burden of reduced water usage on the people is not very effective, you’re looking at gains around 1-3% here.

    Farms account for over 80% of water usage. Therefor, smarter agriculture methods are a must. Don’t produce water-heavy crops and livestock in arid regions or innovate ways to use less.

    • It Is Me July 30, 2021 at 11:16 am Reply

      @skeetr, agriculture is already taking massive water hits. I have family in the Uintah Basin, who haven’t had irrigation water since June. If you don’t want them to produce water-heavy crops, don’t by them at the grocery store. Farmers produce what there is demand for. As for your statement of not having these crops or livestock in arid regions is like saying let’s just not sell cars in Salt Lake County to solve the pollution problem. As Governor Cox has stated, “It’s ignorant to believe cutting water to farms is the answer to the drought.”

      • Bubba in the valley August 2, 2021 at 9:50 am Reply

        You are forgetting that a large portion of water extensive crops such as hay is exported over seas. We need to do a lot of stuff, but we won’t. We can’t even agree if Covid 19 is a hoax or not. I am going to start learning Chinese, because we can’t govern. They will have no problem ruling us.

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