By VERNON ROBISON
The Progress
Attendees were asked to imagine a day without water at a presentation given Wednesday evening, Oct. 19 at Mesquite City Hall. The presentation was given by Virgin Valley Water District (VVWD) Conservation Coordinator Natalie Anderson as part of a lecture series organized by the Virgin River Coalition and the Virgin Valley Heritage Museum.
Anderson spent the evening talking about the precious water resources in the Virgin Valley and what local residents can do to conserve those resources.
Anderson explained that “Imagine a Day Without Water” is a national day of action put on by the Value of Water campaign meant to “make water issues more accessible to the general public and bring an awareness to water and how important it is.” This is the first year that VVWD has participated in the campaign, she added.
To emphasize the real value of fresh water, Anderson pointed out that though 71 percent of Earth is covered in water, more than 97 percent of that is salt water. Only about 2.5 percent is fresh water that can be used without extreme treatment. But most of that remaining freshwater is frozen in glaciers, she added.
“So that leaves us less than 1 percent of the water on earth that is accessible for us to use,” Anderson said.
Anderson talked about the many ways that modern society uses water. She put some of these uses into perspective by quantifying how much water it takes to manufacture various items. For example it takes 3,400 gallons of water to make the average smart phone. It takes 40,000 gallons to make one automobile. Nine gallons is required to make a single diaper.
“It has been estimated that about 20 percent of the U.S. economy would just come to a stop if we had no water,” Anderson said.
The average person in the Virgin Valley uses about 120 gallons of water per day, Anderson added. That factors in outdoor irrigation as well as various home and business uses.
Anderson said that this usage is actually relatively low. “That national average is more in the 250 gallon range,” she said. “So we are doing okay. But we would really like to get that down to about 85 gallons per day.”
Anderson talked about ways that the community can avoid experiencing “a day without water.”
She began by pointing to the importance of supporting new and updated infrastructure for both water and wastewater. “No one wants to talk about infrastructure because it is not very exciting,” Anderson said. “But it is vitally important.”
VVWD has nine deep wells that pulls water from an underground aquifer. These range from 650 feet to 2,040 feet deep. In addition, the district maintains six arsenic treatment facilities, eight storage tanks and about 165 miles of water lines.
On the sanitation side, the city maintains 150 miles of sewer lines, two lift stations and a water treatment facility to take care of waste water, Anderson said. That effluent water is recycled and used again to water parks and golf courses in town, she said.
In addition to the aquifer, the community also has the Virgin River as a water resource, as well as six mountain springs that produce water.
“The district does own river water rights that, when and if our groundwater resources become tapped out, we can use that water,” Anderson said. “But that will require an expensive treatment process.”
Anderson explained that the Virgin Valley community is fortunate in that it does not take its water from the Colorado River system which is distressed at this time. That is why the community is not under the same harsh watering restrictions that are found in the Las Vegas valley. But seeing those restrictions should be a “heads up” to local residents to voluntarily conserve water wherever they can, she said.
“We have the gift of time,” Anderson said. “So we can look around and examine what we are doing to maybe slowly make changes instead of having to mandate those changes like in Las Vegas. It is in our best interest to start taking some of those steps now.”
Anderson talked about several things that VVWD is doing to help in the conservation effort.
First in that list was to educate the public. “That is my job,” she said. “It is what I do.”
Another measure taken by the district is to monitor the levels of the underground basin from which it takes water. “We have rain gauges and monitoring wells that we use in an ongoing basin wellness study,” Anderson said. “We have not seen detrimental loss thus far in that system and everything looks to be sustaining. The State Engineer has agreed with us in those findings.”
VVWD has also redoubled its efforts in leak repairs. Anderson said that the district has someone on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year to respond to reports of leaks. “As soon as we are notified of a leak, we check it out and take care of it,” Anderson said.
Finally, the district is investing in smart water meters which are currently being installed in every local household. These meters have a radio device that sends a signal about water usage to a central tower which then communicates to the district office. In addition, these meters make it possible for the district to offer a customer portal program that gives customers direct access to their own meter data.
Anderson closed by talking about ways that customers could join in the conservation efforts. She recommended that people regularly check their irrigation lines for leaks and stay in communications with their landscapers to make sure irrigation settings are appropriate. Anderson also recommended checking toilets in homes. She called these fixtures the “sneaky little leakers” because toilets can develop
small leaks that are hard to detect.
“We would like people to conserve on their own and find ways that they can fit conservation in their lives, homes and yards,” Anderson said.
