Utah panelists say the state can keep growing while cutting water use

Panelists at the Urban Land Institute Utah Trends conference in Salt Lake City on Tuesday said Utah can keep growing if it uses less water, Building Salt Lake reported. The session asked whether the state is sacrificing natural resources for economic development as the Great Salt Lake shrinks and housing costs rise. ^[1]

Ben Abbott, a Brigham Young University associate professor and executive director of Grow the Flow, said Utah is using more water than is sustainable and the lake has lost about 70% of its water. He said regional water consumption has been flat for at least 40 years while the population doubled and the economy grew tenfold, and that about 90% of urban water use is outdoor watering. Abbott said a commitment a year ago by the governor and legislative leaders to restore the lake by the Olympics has not yet been followed by a conservation target and timeline. ^[1]

Joel Ferry, who recently retired as director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources, said more than a third of Wasatch Front cities have not adopted water-wise landscape ordinances. He said such standards do not ban grass but reduce water use, and warned that mistakes with the lake could be devastating. Ty McCutcheon, president and CEO of Third Cadence, said a 630-acre development in West Jordan called Terraine cut water consumption by 70% through a water-wise approach. ^[1]