MORONI—The Moroni City Council reviewed a secondary irrigation schedule at its meeting Thursday, Feb. 17, under which residents would be permitted to water three days per week through the spring and summer.
Under the schedule, the city would be divided into four zones. One zone would water from 6-9 a.m. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Another would water Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 6-9 p.m.
A third zone would water Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 6-9 a.m., while a fourth could turn on secondary irrigation sprinklers Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 6-9 p.m.
Councilman Fred Atkinson said the schedule is similar to last year, except last year, residents were limited to two days. This year, the city is starting out with three days.
“If we get…to the point where we’re out of water, we’ll take the Monday and the Tuesday away,” Atkinson said.
Councilman Bevan Wulfenstein suggested the city ought to stage some workshops on xeriscaping.
“You can say xeriscaping, but you have to define what that means,” Councilman Brad Aldridge said. “You don’t necessarily want to live next door to someone who builds a house, never does anything with the yard, and says, ‘No, that’s xeriscaping.’”
City Recorder Carol Haskins said the city zoning ordinance says landscaping is required but can be done with gravel, trees, and similar materials.
Aldridge said landscaping with those items is fine. “I just didn’t want ‘zero-scaping,’” he said.
Mayor Paul Bailey said he would like to get all secondary water connections metered. “Then we can say, ‘When you’re over this limit, you’re going to be paying for it.’”
Gary Keddington, the city financial advisor, said a bill is pending in the Legislature that would require metering of all secondary systems statewide within eight years.
Grants are available for systems, such as Moroni’s, with 5,000 or fewer connections, he said. The grants would pay half the cost of installing meters.
Atkinson said the city should start looking into the grants right away. “The longer you go, the harder the grants are going to be [to get],” he said.