St. George • Turning away tourists and stopping all further growth and development will not shore up Washington County’s dwindling water supply.
That’s a major takeaway from the PBS Utah’s Washington County Climate Conversation event Thursday at Utah Tech University.
“We literally have an industry that produces thousands of jobs,” Doug Bennett, conservation manager for the Washington County Water Conservancy District, said about tourism. “We have a $9.5 billion economy in Washington County, and a huge part of that comes from the visitors that come here … and open their wallets.”
Bennett joined Conserve Southwest Utah Vice President Karen Goodfellow and Scott Taylor, St. George’s water services director, at the event to discuss the county’s water woes and to field questions from audience members.
Home to Zion National Park, the Huntsman World Senior Games, the St. George Marathon, and other events, Washington County is a major tourism hub. In 2021, the county collected more than $15 million in transient room tax revenues, according to the Greater Zion Convention and Tourism Office.
Goodfellow said St. George wastewater treatment officials tell her that each major event in the area bumps up daily water usage between one million and two million gallons. Despite the increase, none of the panelists recommended sending tourists elsewhere.
Bennett, for example, noted that hotels have a smaller water footprint and are much more efficient than single-family homes in the area, many of which are seasonal or second homes and use 90% as much water as dwellings that are occupied year-round. Further exacerbating the problems, he added, many homes have been converted into Airbnbs, further draining the water supply and the availability of affordable housing.
“One of the things that would be beneficial,” Bennett added, “is to provide better facilities for visitors where we can put them into hotel rooms and well-managed facilities where we actually go a little more vertical, have smaller landscape footprints and use land at a higher density.”
Shutting down further development, the panelists said in response to another audience member’s question, is also neither realistic nor desirable, especially considering county officials estimate construction and construction-related businesses make up roughly one-third of the area’s economy.
“While there are a lot of people that would say we should just stop growth, are you going to tell those landowners that their land has become open space and that they should continue to pay taxes, even though they cannot put it to any other beneficial use?” Bennett asked.
Conserving more, cutting back on ‘lazy’ grass
Instead, panelists urged, it makes more sense to conserve more by making better choices and more efficient use of existing water resources. Many homes in the area, Bennett noted, use less than 100,000 gallons of water per year, while others similar in size use in excess of 800,000 gallons.
To change that, the water district, the county and cities in the area have implemented rigid conservation ordinances that prohibit grass on nonresidential development, limit it on residential development, require more water-efficient features and implement excess water surcharges on heavy water users.
Water district officials are also promoting the Water Efficient Landscape Rebate program, which pays businesses and homeowners up to $2 per square foot to scrap and replace grass with more water-efficient landscaping. Since 2022, St. George has removed 279,000 square feet — 6.4 acres — of sod, thus saving nearly 18 million gallons of water per year, City Manager John Willis stated at a State of the City address in February.
Districtwide, Bennett said, landowners have switched 1.25 million square feet of turf grass to natural landscaping and saved $50 million gallons. For his part, Taylor said St. George is using less water — about 1,500 acre feet — than it did seven years ago despite adding 8,200 connections
Still, the panelists agreed that much more needs to be done to conserve water. For instance, Bennett said the county has an estimated 200 million acres of lawn area, about 40% of which is nonfunctional or “lazy” grass that serves no purpose other than to soak up water.
“We put grass on places that nobody will ever walk on unless they are pushing a lawn mower,” Bennett said, “and we’re putting 50, 60 or 70 gallons of water a year per square foot on that … We have an estimated 80 million square feet of grass … that is laying there looking pretty and not doing any work. Utahns work hard and they play hard, and we should expect lawn grass to earn its keep, too.”
Calling out water wasters
Goodfellow called out three local developments — Southern Shores, Zion Utah Jellystone Park and Desert Color — as examples of water-wasters. Southern Shores is a luxury surfing community in Hurricane Valley. Zion Utah Jellystone Park, a $50 million water park and resort, is under construction near Hurricane. In nearby St George, Desert Color is a waterfront vacation resort that sports a 2.5-acre lagoon that Goodfellow calls a giant evaporation pond.
“I am calling these out because these are projects that were approved and are not waterwise,” Goodfellow said.
Panelists also answered audience members’ concerns about golf. Washington County’s 14 courses are among the thirstiest in the state, according to a special report conducted by The Salt Lake Tribune. For example, Sand Hollow, a 150-acre upscale course in Hurricane used the second-most in the state — 943-acre feet — in 2022.
“Six of the thirstiest golf courses in the state of Utah are here in Washington County,” Goodfellow said. “We have 14 golf courses that are using 12% of … the county’s water.”
That said, golf is a major economic driver in Washington County, drawing roughly 447,000 visitors to the area and resulting in an economic impact of nearly $151 million, according to the Greater Zion Convention and Tourism Office.
To reduce the water footprint, panelists noted, the water district will not supply water to any new courses. In addition, St. George has cut water usage at its four golf courses by 110 million gallons over the past two years by putting more drought-resistant Bermuda grass on fairways, reducing watering and seeding and letting native grasses grow in out-of-play areas.
Changing the culture
District officials’ 20-year master plan calls for amassing another 47,000 acre-feet of water by 2042 to keep pace with growth. Taylor said water conservation and increasing water reuse are the two major components that will help the county reach that goal. The district’s plan proposes for the development of additional water projects and the construction of a regional reuse system at a combined cost of more than $1 billion.
Among the panelists’ water conservation recommendations: plant more drought- and heat-resistant plants and trees, raise water rates, work together rather than point fingers, and employ a conservation mindset.
Said Goodfellow: “We need to create a different culture here, and that culture is one of water conservation. It is the best lever we have, and it is the immediate window we have to use less water.”
