With the hot breath of Utah's fourth consecutive year of drought breathing down on the state, Utahns are preparing to survive another predicted summer of hot and dry weather and low precipitation.

And while water is currently in short supply, questions about how to best accomplish water conservation are anything but.

Wanting to help Utahns with answers, the Deseret News has collected a series of questions about the drought and conserving water and posed them to the experts for their responses.

Offering their best-guesses to our questions are Stephanie Duer, Salt Lake City's water conservation coordinator; Larry Anderson, director, Utah Division of Water Resources; Valerie Payne of the South Davis Sewer District; and Michele Hill, sales director for Tag-A-Long Expeditions, a river expeditions company based in Moab.

So let's play 20 Questions — Utah Drought 2002 Edition:

1. Should we take showers instead of baths? Reduce water use with our garbage disposals? Use an automatic dishwasher instead of doing dishes by hand?

Answer. Usually showers require less water than baths, comparing full-tub baths with short showers. Garbage disposals require water, but the bigger problem is transporting the garbage through the wastewater system, which uses even more. "That's why we ask people not to use the disposal," said Duer. Dishwashers aren't necessarily better than doing dishes by hand.

2. How often and how long should automated sprinklers be left running?

Answer. "It varies depending on your soil and the microclimate of your landscape," Duer said. The city and the Utah State University Extension Service, Logan, devised a watering schedule that should work.

Deseret News graphicDNews graphicWater pollRequires Adobe Acrobat.

"Basically, for May (water yards) approximately once every four days. For June, July and August, once ever three days, and for September, once ever six or seven days," Duer said. The amount to use should be half an inch of water per interval, which can be measured by placing a small can (tuna or pet food) on the lawn while the sprinklers operate. Generally, that's the amount of water applied to any one spot during about 20 minutes of watering.

3. Should outdoor drinking fountains be turned off?

Answer. Drinking fountains are a public service and should not be closed down. Some use artesian water, naturally under pressure, which is going to come out anyhow. But if other fountains are running and can be turned off when not used, Duer said, they should not be left running continuously.

4. What should I do if my neighbors, the local church, school, golf course, etc., is violating water conservation policies? Or wasting resources by watering mostly the road?

Answer. Call your individual water district or city. While Salt Lake City has no formal ordinance on this, a call to Duer's office at 483-6860 (if the offense is within Salt Lake City boundaries) will prompt a response that should result in the negligent user being contacted and made aware of the problem. You can expect similar responses by your water district or city officials.

5. Why is this being called a drought "crisis" when some old-timers remember worse water years? Is it partly due to increased development resulting in using more of a limited resource?

Answer. Yes, it's a crisis "primarily because of the level of our population (and increased development)," Duer explains. Water resources are finite. As Utah's population swells, the water pie is being sliced into smaller pieces to serve more people.

6. Is it true that when people start conserving the water, for example not flushing the toilet flushing as often, treatment districts have to pump fresh water into the sewer system just to keep it flowing?

Answer. "That wouldn't be very likely," said Payne of the South Davis Sewer District. Water from showers, baths, laundry and other cleaning goes into the system, too. That should be enough to keep everything moving.

7. What should I do if neighbors raid my outside water faucet? Can I get a faucet key to prevent this?

Answer. "My first advice would be talk to your neighbor," Duer said. "If someone needs assistance in some method of intervention, call me (or my equivalent in your city)," Duer said. She also suggests placing a lock on the outside faucet and not leaving the hose where neighbors can get to it easily.

8. Can or should I use a hose to clean up a spill on the sidewalk?

Answer. In most cases opt for the broom, Duer suggests.

9. Can I plant a garden?

Answer. Yes, but consider it a trade-off. If a flower garden, most flowers, shrubs and trees require less water than lawns. Some lawn space can be replaced by amenities such as a rock garden.

10. Will users of residential wells also face restrictions?

Answer. "There's always potential for that," Duer said. "As people depend on well water and as we enter on more critical phases of drought, groundwater levels will decline."

That could result in some restrictions. If the groundwater drops enough, the flow from wells could also be negatively affected.

11. Fact or fiction: How much of our water are Utah water districts selling to out-of-state entities?

Answer. "The answer is zero," said Anderson, director, Utah Division of Water Resources.

About 450,000 acre-feet of Utah's water rights in the Colorado River are not being used, he added. "It goes into filling Lake Powell." If lake water were dumped or happened to spill because the lake was too full — which is not likely anytime soon — some of Utah's water would flow to the states downstream, he said. Those states could then use it.

12. Should families with large backyard swimming pools be allowed to fill them?

Answer. People could consider other uses for the pool area this season, according to Duer.

13. Does this mean children also shouldn't use their hose-powered water slides in the afternoon?

Answer. Yes. "Maybe the best places for water recreation are public swimming pools and not backyard water recreation toys and pools," Duer said.

14. Should big recreational water users like water parks and golf courses be closed?

Answer. "I would say no," Duer said. These places provide important community recreation. "We might have to give up lush green roughs and see more native vegetation (at golf courses), and we need to make systems run more efficiently. But it's in the public interest to provide these recreational outlets."

15. Can I capture rainwater at home to save for personal use like gardens? Who can advise me on this?

Answer. "Sure," said Duer, who suggested checking the Internet for advice. She's not enthusiastic about use of this "gray water," however, because of the potential for bacterial growth and other contamination.

16. Do secondary water suppliers have meters on their systems? If not, should they add them?

Answer. Many secondary water systems are not metered because this type of water carries larger particles that tend to clog meters. If the drought worsens and people need to watch the use even more closely, meters might eventually become necessary.

17. If everybody is watering overnight, won't that reduce water pressure?

Answer. "To some extent, yes, but hopefully not everyone's over-watering, and not everyone's going to water on the same day," Duer said.

18. Utah Power had incentives last summer for customers who reduced power usage by a significant amount. Should this be done for water use?

Answer. "People want us to charge more to encourage conservation, yet they want us to give the money back if they conserve," Duer said. Salt Lake City is looking at other block rate schedules, but the way they are currently set up, summer peak-demand rates means water costs more than at other times.

Thus, the present monetary incentive to conserve is: "If someone uses less water, they're going to pay less," she said.

Most other water delivery systems in the state are set up in a similar manner.

19. Will river-runners suffer this year because the water is low?

Answer. For some guide services that use larger boats in certain places, the lower river flow this year will be a problem, said Hill, sales director for Tag-A-Long Expeditions, Moab. Hill, a river guide for 20 years, says Tag-A-Long uses smaller boats so she doesn't anticipate such troubles herself.

20. My lawn doesn't get enough water unless it is watered every third day. Once in four days isn't enough. By restricting my watering to odd or even days, instead of every three days, isn't that encouraging me to overwater?

Answer. Please see schedule listed with Question No. 2.

"That's why we're not having an odd-or-even-days restriction (in Salt Lake City)," said Duer, who is unable to comment on rules and restrictions being enforced by other cities.

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Extra Credit: In a previous drought, a popular slogan was "If it's yellow, let it mellow; if it's if's brown, flush it down." Is that still good advice to follow in 2002?

Answer. "Using a low-flow toilet is good," Duer said. "(But) I'm not sure I'm ready to say not to flush. If you are renovating your bathroom, then install a low-flow toilet."

The Utah Division of Water Resources adds that an easy way to retrofit a wasteful older toilet is "simply place a water-resistant object, such as a plastic bottle, inside the tank." The gallons displaced could result in a big water savings.

"Modifying your toilet in such a manner should not adversely impact its operation," says the division's Internet site, "however, if it does, consider replacing it with a newer model."

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