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Show COG Supports A 40 Water Reduction Use By ROSELYN KIRK Davis County Council of Government (COG) went on record as being unified in their support of a 40 per cent reduction in the use of culinary water in the county. WAYNE Winegar. director of Weber Basin Water Conservancy Con-servancy District, which" supplies water to the county, urged Davis County Mayors "give direction to the residents on how to conserve water." Mr. Winegar said if cities can cut back 40 per cent on culinary water use this year that amount can be reserved and kept in reservoirs earmarked ear-marked for city use next year if the drought continues. COG OFFICIALS considered con-sidered extending the motion to include the suggestion that residents cut back 50 per cent on lawn water, but agreed to take that action later. Mr. Winegar had recommended that lawns and shrubs be watered wa-tered only once a week. He suggested cities pass emergency emer-gency ordinances to regulate this use. He said only cities and towns have the policing power to enforce such ordinances and can shut down pressurized pres-surized irrigation systems to certain areas. "IF WE'RE careful, we'll : be okay," Mr. Winegar told COG officials. He said the day of the $6 water bill is over. If the cities pay us what they have contracted for, people who use the water will have to pay more." The conservancy district must repay their debt to the federal government which costs about one million dollars yearly. "What is needed is a water conservation program," he said. "People will have to do a lot more than put a brick in the toilet." COo OFFICIALS agreed to send out letters to residents. They agreed; one way to curtail cur-tail water use is to make water more costly. Individual cities would have to make regulations on how to police water use, they said. Each community voted to implement a water conservation conserva-tion program. Water was also the subject of another discussion when Gene Nielsen, consulting engineer en-gineer for Nielsen, Maxwell and Wangsgard said he had received input from most Davis County cities after presenting an interim report ' to COG officials last month. AT THAT time he had asked for input from cities before the final priority list was presented in March. He said before this final list is available, the engineering firm must also receive input from environmentalists, as well as municipal governments. govern-ments. The study recommends that retention to basins detain cloudburst storm run-oft, be built to hold water until it can be diverted into natural stream channels. MR. NIELSEN said the main thrust of the 208 water study is to provide a plan to handle snow melt runoff. If the COG approves the water study, engineers will establish es-tablish design capacities for all natural streams in the county. "If the stream runs through private property, it will be the responsibility of private owners to conform with the design," he said. This would regulate individuals in-dividuals building on the stream as well as commercial companies. AFTER A design for water flow is established by county engineers, it will be the COG's responsibility to regulate and police the flow, rk |