Push to Make State Buildings Conserve Water Gains Momentum

Feb 01, 2008 by Elizabeth Ziegler

House Bill 137 Clears Key Committee, Heads to Full House

(KCPW News) Utah Division of Water Resources Director Dennis Strong says the state should set an example for conserving water. His department is supporting a bill to make state-owned buildings more water-efficient.

"We can show people what proper water use looks like," Strong says. "We can not have them complaining that a state agency is watering when it's raining. Those are the kinds of things. We can improve fixtures. And, I think an important thing of what we can do is to work with the people who work in those buildings and send them out as an army to their neighborhoods to set examples within their neighborhoods. So I think this is just win, win, win, win for this bill."

House Bill 137 creates a conservation program for state facilities that Strong says could save the state 400,000 acre-feet of water over the next 50 years. That's roughly the size of the Jordanelle Reservoir. Strong says the program would accomplish this with small changes, such as improving sprinkler systems and installing low-flow toilets.

"We can do a 25-percent conservation and have little, perhaps no change, to our current lifestyles," Strong says. "We are not promoting and suggesting that we need to dig up lawns. We are just talking about providing the water that they need. If it's raining, please, don't be watering - those kinds of issues."

House Bill 137 is sponsored by Representative Larry Wiley, of Salt Lake County. His proposal garnered full committee approval Friday and now moves to the full House for consideration. A link to the full text of the bill is available on our Web site, kcpw.org.

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