Thanks everybody for conserving water, but it’s not enough

Turn off the sprinklers.

That’s right. Even through the figures show we are conserving water, in this exceptional year, it’s not quite enough. Public works directors have warned that unless we cut consumption even more, there is a possibility of a water emergency in about a month.

Consider Spring City. It gets most of its water from five springs, and in a normal year, the springs take care of most of its demand. This year, those springs are yielding 50% of normal.

The town has three backup wells. Water in the wells is at 45-50% of their normal levels. And if you let the water level in wells drop too low, you can compromise the pumps. Then you can’t get water out of the wells at all.

In a normal year, when water from springs fails to fill up the town’s main storage tank, water from the wells fills the tanks in about 24 hours.

But recently, the town pumped water from its wells for four days and they still weren’t full. The public works director’s comment: “It’s unprecedented.”

In a normal year in Ephraim, springs take care of most of the water needs, with backup from “Well No. 1,” the city’s main well.

This year, because spring output has dropped so significantly, the city has been running the well 17 hours per day, giving it seven hours per day to recover.

But in spite of the recovery time, the water level in the well has been dropping a half foot per day. It can drop 18 feet more before the city will have to shut it off to protect the pump.

“We have about 18 feet left,” Jeff Jensen, the public works director, told the city council recently. If the pattern continues, that translates to 36 days, “probably a month” before the city can no longer use the well.

Ephraim has another backup well, Well No. 2. The city is already running that well. But if Well No. 1 has to be taken down, Well No. 2 will not produce enough water to make up what Well No. 1 and Well No. 2 combined were providing.

If the residents and businesses don’t cut consumption, he warns, “We’re probably going to be in trouble by mid to the end of August.”

The city has a third well, a well it hasn’t been using because of a “sand issue.” The well could be used in an emergency, but it’s not clear Well No. 2 and Well No. 3 could meet current demand.      

Generally, indoor use isn’t the problem. The problem is the culinary water people are putting on their lawns. That includes people who have secondary irrigation but aren’t getting enough irrigation water for their outside needs.

Ephraim City Manager Katie Witt offers some simple guidelines:

• Water no more than twice per week and for no more than 20 minutes each time.

• Don’t water between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.

• Water deeply at the base on trees and plants.

• “Let to grass go. It will come back.”

Much as many of us love our green lawns, in this exceptional year, we need to change our habits.