Sun Valley is considering a restriction on water use that would limit irrigation for new residential developments to 50 percent of the lot or half an acre, whichever is less.
The City Council had its first reading of the ordinance at a special meeting on Thursday, Nov. 12, and the ordinance will come to a vote in a month or two after a couple more readings. Neither the mayor nor any members of the council have yet to publicly speak against it.
Mayor Wayne Willich said many residents are imprudent about watering their lawns.
"The culture or mentality, for some strange reason, is let 'er rip," Willich said, referring to many residents who don't care if they pay a $14,000 water bill for the summer. "To them, that's no big deal."
Willich said the mentality needs a shift. But the proposed restriction would only apply to new development.
Sun Valley Water and Sewer District Manager Pat McMahon said in an interview that homeowners have been gluttonous with water use. The district used to just charge a $40 flat rate for homes during the summer but had to increase that to $80 because of excessive use. In 1998, meters were installed to curb use.
The ordinance isn't the result of existing water shortages but to prevent such a scenario in the future.
During the meeting, McMahon advocated creation of an ordinance that would reward existing water users who are conservative and "punish" those who stick to their excessive use. However, the dollar amounts and details of this rebate-and-penalization system are still up in the air.
Regardless, Councilman Dewayne Briscoe said the focus should be on education, and the "harsh language" of the ordinance needs to be changed to avoid words like "punish." Briscoe said a preferable alternative would be "adjust."
The water system consists of 11 wells and 10 reservoirs with a maximum capacity of a little more than 11 million gallons per day. McMahon said winter use ranges from 1.5 million to 2 million gallons per day. That quadruples to an average of 8 million gallons per day in the summer.
McMahon said the district isn't reaching its capacity, but summer peaks come too close for comfort.
"You've got to have some sort of safety margin," he said, referring to growth and emergencies.
And, he said, the summer peaks aren't out of necessity. He said that, in comparison to the national average, Sun Valley's per-capita water use is "pretty high."
"We just need to realize our priorities," he said. "You don't need green grass to the end of the pavement."
He said the reasonable choice is conservation.
"The bottom line is this is a well we don't have to build and a reservoir we don't have to build," he said.
McMahon said another planned change that would drastically reduce consumption is relying on reused water for golf course irrigation and snowmaking machines for River Run.
Besides serving River Run, the district also serves St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center and McHanville outside of the city limits.
Trevon Milliard: tmilliard@mtexpress.com
