Counting a custom design and professional helpinstalling plants

Tag : How to Make Bird Seed
Capital residents and industries have dropped peak summertimedemand from 214 million gallons a day in 2000 to 181 milliongallons during this month's peak. Summertime use is now about fivetimes winter use, a ratio Duer wants to trim to 3-to-1.
The state is counting on conservation to cover at least two-thirdsof the new demand for the next 50 years, Utah Division of WaterResources Director Dennis Strong said.
That conservation ethic is slow-growing, but it is growing. Utahmeasures per-capita daily water use every five years and saw areduction from 295 gallons in 2000 to 260 in 2005, Strong said.Two-thirds of Utah's culinary water feeds outdoor landscaping, andmany people are watering less often or more efficiently.
"Utahns in general have caught on to the conservation ethic," hesaid. They still need to get to 220 gallons a day, though.
Jordan Valley's per-capita watering plunged from 255 gallons in2000 to 207 during the drought warnings of 2005. Since then,through heat that crisped ornamentals a year ago, the chart hasrebounded like a cardiogram. The average resident used 228 gallonsa day in 2006, and 251 last year.
That sounds like a relapse, but Forsyth, the district official,will take it. Last year's heat required more watering. With aweather reprieve, conservation ads are resonating again. "We cansay with a straight face that we still achieved conservation in2007," Forsyth said.
Bob Grant and Marilyn Smith sprinted way ahead of conservationgoals when they ripped up their Millcreek turf.
Bees dodge around the lavender and orange blanket flowers in theirfront yard, between little granite boulders and shady pines. Threehairy yuccas send up pink flowers from their spiked crowns everyspring.
In the middle was a leftover patch of lawn little bigger than akiddie pool, but that kept on browning because the couple sometimesforgot they still had to water something. This summer they rippedit out and sprinkled a hardier seed mix.
Around back there's buffalo grass - a mat that takes longer togreen up in spring but rarely needs water or mowing. Around it arepeach trees, clumps of 3-foot-tall blue mist spirea, showers ofblue penstemon and spears of pink gaura. A buried grid ofirrigation pipes delivers occasional water to the roots instead ofspraying it into the air.
"I wasn't trying to give an Arizona look to the yard," Smith said,adoring the colors and the restrained abundance of it all.
Results: Average annual water savings of 80 percent.
It was not cheap. Counting a custom design and professional helpinstalling plants, the pair spent about $10,000 to alter nearly2,000 square feet and build an irrigation system.
It's grander than most people need. The average Utahn can beat theconservation goal at a fraction of that cost. Most won't have toswap out a single blade of grass.
Duer paid $300 for new sprinkler controls at her father's home towater shrubs, trees and the lawn separately. Half that money cameback in a utility rebate.
Her father now uses half the water he once did.



About the water series
This summer, The Salt Lake Tribune is exploring Utah's water challenges. Previous installments haveexplored water rights, dam safety and growth. To read previousstories, go to www.sltrib.com,

* TODAY: How to save water.
* NEXT: Kane County water and nuclear power.
* South Jordan may revise parking strip rules to help conservewater. B3