Utahns have been told to let their lawns go brown, landscape efficiently and to generally use less water for years. But as reservoir levels decline and the same reminders resurface, some people are tuning out.
Utah’s reservoirs are at 67% full, far lower than this time last year, according to a report from the Utah Division of Water.
For many years, messaging on water conservation has been consistent, said Tage Flint, executive director of the public-private partnership Utah Water Ways, which promotes smart water use.
“We need to reduce our per capita usage of water every year, regardless of the drought condition, and get out of the habit of saying, ‘Well, it's a drought year — this year, we're going to use less. It's a wet year this year, so we can use more,’” he said.
They get tired of putting out the same message sometimes, Flint added, but Utahns wouldn’t be hearing the same old story about drought conditions and needing to save water if the state were in a good spot.
“We know that the messages have been heard over and over again, but what we're observing is a disconnect between the message being heard and the practical application at home,” he said.
Utahns do seem to care about water, though. In a 2024 Utah Foundation survey, Utahns listed water as their sixth priority and Great Salt Lake as their 16th.
The survey results also showed that there was a willingness to remove half of a lawn or allow it to be brown during the summer months to reduce the cost of Utah’s water infrastructure investments by 30%.
Shawn Teigen is the president of Utah Foundation, and over the years he’s noticed a trend — water is a priority when other factors, like the economy, a pandemic or the political climate aren’t.
In Utah Foundation’s 2020 survey, water supply and quality were of low importance, while health care, state taxes and education were listed as the top three concerns.
Teigen said when there are good snow years, like the 2022-2023 winter, people are also less likely to view water supply as a concern.
Even daily rain showers can change someone’s view about water conservation.
“People still know we are in a drought,” Teigen said. “And if you asked a question about water sufficiency yesterday, people would have probably been more concerned than if you asked them about it today, just because of the precipitation.”
Despite statistics showing Utahns are willing to let go of their lawns, some are asking why they should conserve when it appears other institutions like churches, golf courses and parks keep their lush green grass on display.
That idea contributes to messaging fatigue, Flint said.
“Utahns start to think, ‘Well, I've heard this message for a long time, but I've not seen enough change in those big users to think that I can make any difference,’” he said. “The message there is that we are working with the institutional and commercial industrial users to reduce their water use.”
But Washington County residents are getting the message.
The county has been replacing grass lawns with water-friendly landscaping thanks to a rebate program that pays residents up to $2 per square foot to convert irrigated lawns.
“I don't feel like we had fatigue,” said Washington County Water Conservancy District Conservation Manager Doug Bennett. “We're obviously asking people to conserve, but we're trying to do that by putting information in front of them.”
Everything the community is asked to do in terms of saving water is voluntary, Bennett said, and much of it is spread by word of mouth.
Some people still aren’t on board with ripping out their grass lawns, Bennett said. He’s seen people on social media point fingers at agricultural use of water.
But larger water users in the state have taken action. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been swapping grass lawns for shrubs and small trees, and is actively working to save 500 million gallons of water.
“We're not looking to demolish people's quality of life. We're not looking to take away the things that they've known,” Bennett said. “We're trying to figure out ways that we can have all that, but we're just going to do it more efficiently through the adoption of technology, through the sharing of information.”
As Utah’s population continues to grow and drought conditions worsen, the messaging will need to be more forthright, Flint said.
“Maybe more directness will help,” he said. “I'm hopeful we'll kind of change the tide and stem some of that fatigue that has been out there.”
