# The Yard



## JerryH (Jun 17, 2014)

This is the worst year my yard has ever looked. I'm sure it will look worse before fall hits. I new it would be bad but my hell its embarrassing. But everyone's yard looks the same in my neighborhood. They will let me water twice a week now but it hasn't helped. I have IFA 3rd step for the lawn but I'm afraid it will burn it worse than bring back some color.


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

It sucks for lawns AND be grateful your town/county is doing something. Cedar is still putting their fingers in their ears and only doing requests. That should have been the strategy five years ago for us. We don't have a single reservoir, for the town, and are still building rapidly including homes with new turf (yay, watering every day!).

I gave up on my front lawn late last summer. I did one watering a week to keep it for a while in case we had an epic winter. That stopped by August. I assume it's now dead & I'm learning to enjoy the morning glory flowers on the established field bindweed. We'll eventually xeriscape but not this season.

We have cut back our vegetable garden by half. 

We need a massive state wide fund to pay people to rip out turf. We need big plans, yesterday.


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

Out of curiosity, does the water limit up there include vegetable gardens or is it just turf?


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

some of us aren't in denial, but rather in defiance of Cedar City / Iron County. As long as they keep spraying hundreds of gallons of water on dirt while they prep to build that new subdivision -- why should I conserve my water use???

There is a "quality of life" vs. "growth" threshold, and we're past it. If we don't have enough water for some grass, then I don't want to grow any more and allow more apartment buildings to be built! Maybe we should put an end to number of car washes in town? Or limit how many times you can wash your car? Yes, I'm selfish. Stop building apartments.


(curbing went in this weekend. I should be ready to seed, and start watering 4x per day, in another couple weeks)

(I'm also on my own well)


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## middlefork (Nov 2, 2008)

My city put us on restricted watering about the time the water district started delivering secondary water. One day a week between the hours of 8PM to 6AM. 20 minutes per station for sprinklers and 40 minutes per station for rotary sprinklers. No provisions for gardens.

The neighbor only waters his garden but the weeds are getting more than whatever he planted.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

middlefork said:


> The neighbor only waters his garden but the weeds are getting more than whatever he planted.


We ran half inch black funny pipe around our garden perimeter, then 1/4" line off of that for each plant, each with its own dripper or sprayer. Its pretty targeted. Plants for the most part are doing extremely well, most of the rest of the area isn't watered so its bare dirt with few to no weeds. Zucchini is out of control again... I don't think there's a plant out there that produces as much harvestable poundage. Potatoes seem like they are doing well, carrots the same. Tomatoes are staging a comeback after the deer ate the tops off. Peppers though... they are doing poorly. Got a couple melon's over 5" and growing fast. Wife picked a bunch of raspberrys... and the grapes, we rarely pick those but they always grow a ton. If I pruned them down a bit, we might get fewer but bigger grapes. They cover a 6ft fence for about 60ft.

-DallanC


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

My lawn is a sage color and mist of my neighbors have lush green lawns…. I guess I know who is conserving and who isn’t.


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

PBH said:


> some of us aren't in denial, but rather in defiance of Cedar City / Iron County. As long as they keep spraying hundreds of gallons of water on dirt while they prep to build that new subdivision -- why should I conserve my water use???
> 
> There is a "quality of life" vs. "growth" threshold, and we're past it. If we don't have enough water for some grass, then I don't want to grow any more and allow more apartment buildings to be built! Maybe we should put an end to number of car washes in town? Or limit how many times you can wash your car? Yes, I'm selfish. Stop building apartments.
> 
> ...


Can't say I'm a big fan of that race to the bottom, literally when it comes to aquifers. 

I've also been shocked by those water trucks on Hwy 56. It's nuts how much water is being spread midday only to evaporate within hours, at most.

And the # of car washes is ridiculous for this town. The lack of foresight in permit approvals and code/ordinance development here is crazy. No matter how much water they may or may not recycle there is still huge waste with that constant line of cars going through them.

I don't envy the agricultural sector here. It's an honorable tradition and career AND it's days are numbered in the high desert in Iron County. The county and city made their own bed when they chose to be so hands off and act like we aren't in the early stages of a water crisis; the drought is old but it's impact is just starting to be felt.

But I'll keep conserving.


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## MrShane (Jul 21, 2019)

PBH said:


> some of us aren't in denial, but rather in defiance of Cedar City / Iron County. As long as they keep spraying hundreds of gallons of water on dirt while they prep to build that new subdivision -- why should I conserve my water use???
> 
> There is a "quality of life" vs. "growth" threshold, and we're past it. If we don't have enough water for some grass, then I don't want to grow any more and allow more apartment buildings to be built! Maybe we should put an end to number of car washes in town? Or limit how many times you can wash your car? Yes, I'm selfish. Stop building apartments.
> 
> ...


Good for you PBH, I couldn’t agree more.
I am so glad I live in a neighborhood where people still care.
I can’t even imagine living across from a yard like BC’s, filled with Field Bindweed. Bindweed is a Noxious Weed and there are laws against allowing it to grow. Citations could be issued.
Is there a report button for that? ( joke btw).
There is no way I am saving a drop of water that would just be allocated to the next apartment building going up down the street.
And I am a boater but conserving water to just pipe down the street to the next new development just ain’t gonna happen here.


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

😁

Beautiful flowers, hideous weed. We'll be doing multiple treatments of 2-4, D starting this autumn. Sadly that stuff was deeded with the property as the old saying goes. If Iron Co actually enforced it noxious weeds ordinances we'd all be better off as half this town is bindweed, mustard, burweed, etc. But the initial enforcement would require an army of personnel. 

I've wanted to torch it but was told that was verboten by the city, even during the cold season. Still tempting but not worth the risk.


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## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

*We need a massive state wide fund to pay people to rip out turf. We need big plans, yesterday. *

There is a program for this. I believe its called "water wise utah". I saw a clip on a news station a couple weeks ago, and the company has plans and rebates in place if you xeriscape your yard. They rebate up to a maximum of 2K. They (news) said you send in your design, scape the yard, and depending on how much grass you remove and place shrubs, fountain grass, etc. that is drought tolerant depends on the amount your reimbursed. The Gal that did scape the yard was interviewed and the cost to her doing it was 4K. She got a check from the company of $1.800. Not bad I'd say.

The price of rock, mulch, bark and the such has tripled in price the last year. Four years ago I had 6 yards of 2"- delivered for $160. The same rock now is $140 a yard.


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## JerryH (Jun 17, 2014)

backcountry said:


> Out of curiosity, does the water limit up there include vegetable gardens or is it just turf?


Originally through weber basin water district it was going to be once a week 
They eased up a couple of weeks ago to twice a week. Here are their rules.
Rotors 40 minutes per zone
Pop ups 20 minutes per zone
Drip and bubblers 30 minutes per zone


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## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

Last spring I got the track skid and mini X and tore the entire front yard up. All the gras gone, cut a new grade and installed all new irrigation. I eliminated 3/4 of the grass and have seperate lines for a drip and tree watering system. It's still dirt.😩 Hopefully the price of rock and mulch will come down a little along with the plants I want for the drip lines.


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

Per water & growth:

It's happening. No stopping it with Utah's appeal & hands off approach. Multiple places in Utah will be going towards vertical density, especially along the Wasatch Front. It's the only sustainable model for a policy, official or de facto, of unlimited growth. It uses significantly less water and for the majority of a generation it's the only real financial option. 

My conservation keeps that in mind. And it's also about recognizing most of our middle class equity is worked into our home & property. Water security has a huge impact on property value.


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

taxidermist said:


> *We need a massive state wide fund to pay people to rip out turf. We need big plans, yesterday. *
> 
> There is a program for this. I believe its called "water wise utah". I saw a clip on a news station a couple weeks ago, and the company has plans and rebates in place if you xeriscape your yard. They rebate up to a maximum of 2K. They (news) said you send in your design, scape the yard, and depending on how much grass you remove and place shrubs, fountain grass, etc. that is drought tolerant depends on the amount your reimbursed. The Gal that did scape the yard was interviewed and the cost to her doing it was 4K. She got a check from the company of $1.800. Not bad I'd say.
> 
> The price of rock, mulch, bark and the such has tripled in price the last year. Four years ago I had 6 yards of 2"- delivered for $160. The same rock now is $140 a yard.


I'll double check on that. I checked again this spring and we had already gotten the only incentive available for our house, a smart timer/hub for our grass .

If they updated yo include our area I'll jump on it as rock/etc has definitely gone up in cost. We'll do a shade tree or two, rock & mulch.


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## MrShane (Jul 21, 2019)

JerryH said:


> Originally through weber basin water district it was going to be once a week
> They eased up a couple of weeks ago to twice a week. Here are their rules.
> Rotors 40 minutes per zone
> Pop ups 20 minutes per zone
> Drip and bubblers 30 minutes per zone


Jerry,
Just go to sprinkler store and get free (for rotors) nozzle assortment.
Pop-up nozzles are gonna cost ya.
Install largest nozzles possible but still leave time set at 40 min.
Our lawmakers ain’t too bright.


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## MrShane (Jul 21, 2019)

Doing all this rock work then radiates more heat to/in our homes.
A grass area is much cooler (ex. Standing in football field vs. standing in Walmart parking lot).
Another example: big city thermal hot spots.
What do we humans then do?
We crank up the reservoir turbine powered A/C and drain the lakes.
Vicious cycle.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

You can find landscape rock that reflects heat unlike asphalt that absorbs and radiats heat.

This is one place that a landscape design architect would be money well spent if you plan to zeroscape your yard.

No zeroscape will be as cool as that Kentucky Blue grass but if designed and installed properly it won't be too bad.

Sent from my SM-A426U using Tapatalk


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

You'd have to assume every kWh of power used for cooling was directly caused by temperature gain from turf removal to even break even with a swamp cooler's total water usage (including water usage for energy production). And that's just for my small 1000 sq ft front lawn we let go.

There really is no equation in which turf's water usage is a net benefit in this region when it comes to water consumption or most other environmental factors. It's simply wasteful. Even then, thoughtful programs don't require complete removal AND the smart ones require some type of non-rock cover for large portions removed to act as a canopy to the soil to prevent the sort of heat gain described. 

As well, many areas with turf removal experience faster night time temperature drops that help balance out the thermal gain during the day.

Turf removal is a net gain when it comes to water security in the drought stricken west.


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## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

A home a few blocks from me just finished his front yard. They had the driveway replaced with new concrete and a total fake turf front yard. Looks real nice and beautiful, but I know the turf is hotter than the sod was for sure. 

They have a lot of plants on a drip throughput the perimeter of the area, and a big Chestnut tree in the center of the yard. I'll try to get a pic without being deemed a "stocker" and post it up.


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## JerryH (Jun 17, 2014)

MrShane said:


> Jerry,
> Just go to sprinkler store and get free (for rotors) nozzle assortment.
> Pop-up nozzles are gonna cost ya.
> Install largest nozzles possible but still leave time set at 40 min.
> Our lawmakers ain’t too bright.


Oh I did that the day I installed them lol


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## MrShane (Jul 21, 2019)

backcountry said:


> Per water & growth:
> 
> It's happening. No stopping it with Utah's appeal & hands off approach. Multiple places in Utah will be going towards vertical density, especially along the Wasatch Front. It's the only sustainable model for a policy, official or de facto, of unlimited growth. It uses significantly less water and for the majority of a generation it's the only real financial option.
> 
> My conservation keeps that in mind. And it's also about recognizing most of our middle class equity is worked into our home & property. Water security has a huge impact on property value.


The thought of stacking more and more people makes me want to puke.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

backcountry said:


> I've also been shocked by those water trucks on Hwy 56, Lund Highway, Minersville Highway, Midvalley Road, behind the liquor store, Westview, Old highway 91, Fiddler's Canyon...... It's nuts how much water is being spread midday only to evaporate within hours, at most.


A few additions.

When all your City and County elected officials have ties back to real estate development what do you expect, except for more building projects? Water be damned. Not dammed.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

taxidermist said:


> A home a few blocks from me just finished his front yard. They had the driveway replaced with new concrete and a total fake turf front yard. Looks real nice and beautiful, but I know the turf is hotter than the sod was for sure.


He just needs to spray down the turf with water first before the kids play on it. That cools it off enough to use.

-DallanC


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## middlefork (Nov 2, 2008)

Neighbors garden LOL


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

MrShane said:


> The thought of stacking more and more people makes me want to puke.


I don't disagree, I've been labeled a NIMBY more than once for defending R1 styles homes & neighborhoods. Those will still exist & vertical density is inevitable in many locales. I like my 1/2 acre lot and the neighborhood feel but there is good reason to believe my daughter won't have that opportunity later in life.



PBH said:


> A few additions.
> 
> When all your City and County elected officials have ties back to real estate development what do you expect, except for more building projects? Water be damned. Not dammed.


Very true. Ironically it's setting agriculture up for doom & anyone with old ranch land should be shaking in their boots. Cedar can't sustain both this level of growth (with big manicured lots) & watering alfalfa sold to Japan for boujee businessman beef. And the new mayor & county commissioners would have to be idiots not to know this.


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## MrShane (Jul 21, 2019)

DallanC said:


> He just needs to spray down the turf with water first before the kids play on it. That cools it off enough to use.
> 
> -DallanC


Funny story:
Years ago I helped with a subterranean irrigation system under a turfed park strip along Redwood Road.
Watered great with low evapotranspiration rates.
Problem was, heavy traffic puts lots of road dust on park strips like these.
Park strip got so filthy the City had to wash it once a week with their water truck to keep it even to an acceptable looking standard.
Would rocks or concrete work there?
Sure.
Who wants to live in a concrete jungle though?
Building Cities out of rocks and concretes chases more people to the mountains to be in the green hills.
Us humans are a strange lot.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Our modest garden. Targeted watering with per plant sprayers set to a minimum. Overall it waters for 20 minutes at the start of each evening. Doing really good! Note how dry the rest of the bed is.










Zucchini, 1 weeks worth. This stuff is ridiculous how fast it grows. Slice it thin and throw it on the frying pan with some parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. Fantastic.










-DallanC


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## JerryH (Jun 17, 2014)

Looks great Dallan


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## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

*Zucchini, 1 weeks worth. This stuff is ridiculous how fast it grows. Slice it thin and throw it on the frying pan with some parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. Fantastic.*
Cut up a couple chalets and fresh garlic is a fav in our household. We'll do that after cooking some bacon and throw it in the bacon grease to fry it up. Only takes the Zucc about 30 seconds to fry before it gets to soft. I've also cooked it the same way in bacon grease after doing a double dip in egg wash and Italian bread crumbs.


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## middlefork (Nov 2, 2008)

I didn't check the recipe section but there should be something about 11001 recipes for Zucchini. For some reason I picture it as the most produced vegetable in Utah.


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## Clarq (Jul 21, 2011)

PBH said:


> (curbing went in this weekend. I should be ready to seed, and start watering 4x per day, in another couple weeks)
> 
> (I'm also on my own well)


Works fine until the well runs dry.

Here are a few fun facts for the Iron County folks on here:

1. The groundwater level in Cedar City Valley is not stable. It has been declining and will almost certainly keep declining. See the Cedar City Annual Water Report for some details.

2. Due to overuse of groundwater resources, the valley is under a groundwater management plan. Starting in 2035, a portion of the existing water in the valley rights become invalid. Another round of that occurs in 2050 and every 10 years after that until things get back under control.

It's a gloomy situation down there.


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

The subsidence in Enoch is unsubtle from the overdrawn aquifer. 

Too many people putting in straws and sucking it dry.

*I'm slowly getting my wife to recognize we'll probably need to move within the decade. Our leaders just aren't acting fast enough. Iron Co & Cedar are in trouble.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

middlefork said:


> I didn't check the recipe section but there should be something about 11001 recipes for Zucchini. For some reason I picture it as the most produced vegetable in Utah.


You can shred them into noodles and make spaghetti with it vs using pasta. It actually tastes great, just a bit "wetter" than you normally are used to. We do that a dozen or so meals a year.

-DallanC


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## JerryH (Jun 17, 2014)

MrShane said:


> Jerry,
> Just go to sprinkler store and get free (for rotors) nozzle assortment.
> Pop-up nozzles are gonna cost ya.
> Install largest nozzles possible but still leave time set at 40 min.
> Our lawmakers ain’t too bright.


At the Standard Sprinkler store. I found some Rain Bird 18-VAN adjustable heads for 4" pop ups and shrub heads. These run 4.21 GPM. These definitely spray more water and further. Instead of a misting spray its more of a good rain.

Nothing to loose at this point.


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## MrShane (Jul 21, 2019)

JerryH said:


> At the Standard Sprinkler store. I found some Rain Bird 18-VAN adjustable heads for 4" pop ups and shrub heads. These run 4.21 GPM. These definitely spray more water and further. Instead of a misting spray its more of a good rain.
> 
> Nothing to loose at this point.


Nice!
I prefer to put a lot of water in the gutter, I figure that is the quickest way to get it back in to the GSL.


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

It will be unfortunate if citizens choose to focus on their own short term preferences. 

It's not that lawmakers aren't bright. It's that most of Utah's strategy relies on voluntary cooperation with the spirit of the goal. Utah is slow to go from a cooperative model to a compliance based model with punitive enforcement. The more people find loopholes in that reality the more we undermine much of the spirit of traditional conservatism, ie we work together to solve issues from the bottom up.


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## JerryH (Jun 17, 2014)

MrShane said:


> Nice!
> I prefer to put a lot of water in the gutter, I figure that is the quickest way to get it back in to the GSL.


I'm with ya. Every time I walk past the bathroom I flush the toilet. Only thing saving the GSL at this point is the sewage canals.

Flushing brings lake effect snow storms


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

MrShane said:


> Nice!
> I prefer to put a lot of water in the gutter, I figure that is the quickest way to get it back in to the GSL.


The funny, sad funny not haha funny thing, is we all know some of the worst culprits of that are the municipalities. Cedar has a no watering from 8 am to 6 pm ordinance. You wouldn't know that from their baseball fields and parks, many of which have that running water trail you are talking about. Definitely sends the wrong message to residents. 

I think I read some schools are finally going to let portions of their lawns go brown. That would be a big step.


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## MrShane (Jul 21, 2019)

backcountry said:


> The funny, sad funny not haha funny thing, is we all know some of the worst culprits of that are the municipalities. Cedar has a no watering from 8 am to 6 pm ordinance. You wouldn't know that from their baseball fields and parks, many of which have that running water trail you are talking about. Definitely sends the wrong message to residents.
> 
> I think I read some schools are finally going to let portions of their lawns go brown. That would be a big step.


A big step for sure, in the wrong direction!


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

Why should they water every bit of lawn in areas with zero use for three months? Dormant grass can come back in the autumn after the heat mellows out.

Many of these school districts use hundreds of millions of gallons a year. WCSD was using 434 million gallons a year up until the end of 2020, when they did their first ever water audit (absurd it took that long). They managed to keep their lawns, and add to them actually, yet reduce water usage by 100 million gallons all while saving them $100k+ a year. Good on their team for doing so.









Washington County School District weighs extensive water cuts


ST. GEORGE — For nine months each year, Washington County School District waters hundreds of acres of sports fields, lawns and nonfunctional turf. Add to that the water required for plumbing within school buildings, and it begins to make sense why the district pays more than $1 million in water...




www.stgeorgeutah.com





And the portions most areas are looking at going brown are non-functional areas like strips, etc. Those are some of the worst culprits for huge waste, like flowing down the curb.

Most of this is low hanging fruit we should have been dealing with a decade ago. But high marks to Davis Co for actually being proactive and forward thinking and transitioning their fields to more appropriate grasses for the intermountain west.









Davis School District to cut summer water use in half


Schools in the Davis School District may look a little unkempt this summer, but it's for a very good reason.




www.fox13now.com


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

99.6% of the state is in severe drought. 83% is in extreme drought. Almost 8% is in exceptional drought.

And sadly the precipitation forecast is consistently below average until October and temperatures are predicted to likely be above average until December. Not a single government prediction product for the next 12 months that I can find is predicting above average precipitation for Utah, ie we need to already be thinking about 2023 water shortfalls. 

I have to wonder how desperate the situation needs to be before residents aren't worried about the completely normal reality of brown grass in the middle of the summer.





__





| U.S. Drought Monitor







droughtmonitor.unl.edu









__





Climate Prediction Center - Updated OFFICIAL 30-Day Forecasts


This page displays the most recent verification of the Climate Prediction Center's Monthly Forecasts



www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov


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## JerryH (Jun 17, 2014)

Sad state of affairs.
1st pic may 6th 2018
2nd pic july 14th
As you can see I haven't cheated on the watering schedule.

I've lived here in Utah my entire 60 years. I never thought I would want to leave. The last few years I have become so disillusioned with Utah. I've convinced my wife 5 years and we are out of here. We are taking road trips and looking at towns and communities to find a place to where we will want to live after retirement. We still want to garden and enjoy a yard with 4 seasons. But without this kind of population on the Wasatch front.


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## MrShane (Jul 21, 2019)

JerryH said:


> Sad state of affairs.
> 1st pic may 6th 2018
> 2nd pic july 14th
> As you can see I haven't cheated on the watering schedule.
> ...


No Jerry, don’t go.
Who else will care about getting water to GSL if you leave?
Plus, I need you to push birds back to me after I push them to you.


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## MrShane (Jul 21, 2019)

Think of all that water our leaders want you to save.
We can use that saved water for humans after we rip up a bunch of fertile farm land and stack a whole bunch of people in there!


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

JerryH said:


> Sad state of affairs.
> 1st pic may 6th 2018
> 2nd pic july 14th
> As you can see I haven't cheated on the watering schedule.
> ...


It's definitely been a rough transition since that first photo.

We are probably out of here within ten. Utah just doesn't seem to have the willingness to do the big work for water security. 

Reality is we are currently suffering the consequences from decisions made years before. I can't stomach the consequences the younger generation is going to face because of our current milquetoast response of my county.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

Clarq said:


> Works fine until the well runs dry.
> 
> Here are a few fun facts for the Iron County folks on here:
> 
> 1. The groundwater level in Cedar City Valley is not stable. It has been declining and will almost certainly keep declining. See the Cedar City Annual Water Report for some details.



But, hey -- let's put in another 800 apartment buildings, and 3 new neighborhoods. What the heck.



Clarq said:


> 2. Due to overuse of groundwater resources, the valley is under a groundwater management plan. Starting in 2035, a portion of the existing water in the valley rights become invalid. Another round of that occurs in 2050 and every 10 years after that until things get back under control.
> 
> It's a gloomy situation down there.


Glad my right is old.


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