The Salt Lake County Council has applied "stop sign" politics to water conservation.
Although a formal ordinance will not be considered until next week, the council on Tuesday approved water restrictions identical to the voluntary guidelines used in Salt Lake City. Unlike their city neighbors, however, county residents violating the restrictions will be breaking the law and could be hit with minimal fines.
Not that council members actually intend to punish most residents. Instead, they hope most people will treat the restrictions like a stop sign in a residential neighborhood and will simply obey the law, as opposed to consciously breaking the rules.
"We depend on our society functioning by people voluntarily obeying the law," Councilman Russell Skousen said. "We don't have the resources to force people to obey all of the laws."
Along with the new restrictions, the council also agreed to consider long-term measures that would reduce water use in the valley, especially by commercial water users. Councilman Cortlund Ashton said that during the past few weeks of water conservation discussions, he has had a "journey of discovery" and realized that the biggest savings can be found when service and industrial businesses reduce their use.
To encourage that, Ashton suggested a "water-wise" program in which businesses are recognized for efforts to save water, such as a restaurant choosing not to serve water unless it is ordered or a hotel not washing towels for multiple-night guests.
"I don't think our residents want water cops," he said. "Instead, we should focus our energy on promoting the water-wise businesses."
Councilman Steve Harmsen, who is working to draft a landscaping ordinance that would allow more drought-tolerant yards, said he did not want to simply make laws that may or may not make a difference. Instead, he wanted to work to get the biggest users — such as oil refineries — to help conserve water, and also to allow Mayor Nancy Workman to organize the county's and cities' leaders so they can jointly make valleywide water conservation rules.
"There's a lot of things we can do, but we're going to miss the boat if we try to apply some eyewash ordinance that says what you can and can't do," Harmsen said.
Councilman Randy Horiuchi applauded the new restrictions, even if the enforcement was not expected to be very significant.
"If our aim is not enforcement, but we figure people will want to obey the law, that's fine with me," he said. "Because we're not doing anything now."
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