Utah Growing Water Smart
Community Workshop | June 6-8, 2023 Utah State University, Logan, Utah
Utah State University’s Center for Water Efficient Landscaping, Western Resource Advocates, and the Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy, a center of the Lincoln Land Institute, will welcome teams and provide a workshop overview.
PLANNING FOR WATER RESILIENCY IN THE GREAT SALT LAKE WATERSHED
Throughout the United States West, planning for resilient and sustainable water supplies occurs across multiple disciplines and professions, government scales, and public-private collaborations. The panel speakers will share insights on the context of interdependency and integration in how the State of Utah is responding to projected future water supply challenges in light of the state’s growth and increasing climate uncertainty.
– Brian Steed, Utah’s Great Salt Lake Commissioner and Director of the Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water and Air, Utah State University
– Laura Vernon, Great Salt Lake Basin Planner, Utah Division of Water Resources
– Timothy Hawkes, General Counsel and Vice Chair of the Board of Great Salt Lake Brine
Shrimp Cooperative, Inc.
INTEGRATING LAND AND WATER FOR HEALTHY COMMUNITIES
Communities can play a role in regional ground and surface water management by integrating water conservation, efficiency, reuse, and nature-based approaches into their development plans and policies. John Berggren from Western Resource Advocates will provide an overview of the tools and strategies that can help your community achieve water resilience and introduce technical experts available throughout the workshop.
NEEDED CONVERSATIONS FOR INTEGRATED LAND AND WATER PLANNING
Panel members will discuss conversations and collaborations that led to successful water- smart approaches to designing the Rock Loft Ridge Estates Subdivision and implementing the Smart Water Sprinkling Program in Fruit Heights, Utah. They will also reflect on lessons learned that have broader applicability to water-smart growth challenges in the Great Salt Lake Watershed of Northern Utah. Workshop participants will have a chance to ask questions and contribute to the discussion.
– John Pohlman, Mayor, Fruit Heights, Utah
– Matt Lowe, Developer, Lowe Companies
– Jon Parry, Assistant General Manager/Strategic Initiatives, Weber Basin Water
Conservancy District
This work session will focus on the water-smart enabling environment in your community. Review land use changes/transitions occurring in your community, evaluate how existing land use policies and tools are being used to promote sustainable water resource management, and explore options you could pursue from the Water Smart Toolbox. Teams will discuss:
● Whatareourgrowthanddevelopmenttrends?
● Whereareproblemareasforlandusedevelopmentandwaterresources?
● Whataretheplansweusetoaddresswater/landuse?
● Whatareissuesthatarenotaddressedincodeorpolicy?
● Whatarethebestopportunitiesandstrategiesthatwillhelpusbecomemorewater
smart and what goals/outcomes/strategies does the team want to pursue?
TOUR AT THE USU GREENVILLE RESEARCH FARM
Tour at the horticultural section of the USU Greenville Research Farm located at 1857 North 800 East in North Logan, Utah. Led by Kelly Kopp, faculty and staff of the Center for Water Efficient Landscaping will talk about research activities related to water-efficient turfgrass and landscape plants and advances in irrigation techniques, all of which support Utah’s waterwise landscaping transitions.
BUILDING A SHARED VISION AND COMMUNITY SUPPORT
Using policy and behavior change insights and examples, Joanna Endter-Wada from Utah State University will share the importance of building shared vision and community support for collective action strategies needed to Grow Water Smart. Focus on developing a collaboration and communication strategy that can help to reframe people’s thinking and garner support for change.
RESOURCES FOR GETTING TO ACTION
Presentations will focus on a wide range of resources available to help communities with their water-smart growth planning.
– Chelsea Benjamin: Utah Growing Water Smart resources including technical assistance – Candice Hasenyager & DWR Staff: resources from Utah’s Division of Water Resources – Kristen Keener Busby: Growing Water Smart Peer Network
– Faith Sternlieb: Internet of Water Initiative of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
– Gretel Follingstad: NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System – Victoria Arling: resources from the WaterNow Alliance
Last Portion is CREATING A TEAM ACTION PLAN - Here are some Highlights below
What is your community’s overall growth trend? Are you growing, stable, declining, or perhaps shifting in some way?
Clearfield City is growing. The current population estimate for July 2022 is 34,062 people. Between July 2020 and July 2022 the population estimate growth is by 6.71% for an absolute growth of 2,142 people. In comparison, from 2010 to 2019 the estimate of population growth was 6.91% for an absolute growth of 2,077 people. Clearfield has grown more in the last two years by absolute growth than the previous ten years. Clearfield has since significant development growth with urban living in apartments and townhomes within the last five years. Moderate growth with single-family residential uses has also been seen. Sited from : Census.gov
What demographic changes are taking place in your community?
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Is your population growing, declining, diversifying, getting younger, aging?
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What is your population growth rate?
The population is growing: with a growth rate of 6.91% from 2010-2019 and 1.08% from 2020-2021.
Where are you growing, and how?
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Where is most new development locating?
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What are the most frequent types of development applications?
Most of the new development in the city is concentrated along the State Street corridor as part of the downtown revitalization efforts. This includes mixed-use developments, apartments, townhomes and some commercial uses. The other concentration area of new development is the Clearfield Frontrunner Station. This mixed-use area will include apartments, townhomes, mixed-use buildings, commercial buildings, offices, and parking structures. There are other pockets of medium to high-density housing in a few other areas of the city, but the majority is focused at these two locations. Single-family residential development is primarily occurring in north and south along 1000 West.
- How would you characterize your water supply? If known, provide a percentage breakdown of the sources of that supply.
This past year 85% of our total water usage was surface water from Weber Basin, and 15% was pumped from our groundwater wells.
- How do your water provider(s) engage with land use planners to project future water demands?
Weber Basin Water Conservancy District generally engages with its customer agencies to project future water demands as updates are made to the District’s Supply and Demand Study. This engagement generally consists of presenting the historic study, the need for an update, an overview of the scenarios that will be evaluated and an explanation of the information that will be requested from the customer agencies. Most recently these requests have come in the form of a “workbook” that is pre-populated with known water right, source volumes, populations and a request for any supplemental information via community general plans, etc. that will assist in ensuring this effort is robust and reflective of actual planning efforts
Below are some resources if you are interested in programs and knowledge on the current water environment.
UT DWR Utah Water Savers Programs & Rebates
Utah DWR Conserve Water
UT DWR Slow the Flow
UT DNR Lawn Watering Guide
USU Extension In Home Conservation
Utah DWR Resources
Great Salt Lake Advisory Council , 2019 Great Salt Lake Integrated Model
Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute Population Projections