'Drought boredom' seeping into Utah
Experts fear apathy will hinder conservation
After six years of drought — and six years of media coverage, public service announcements and direct mailings — some water conservation advocates fear the media and public are suffering drought burnout.
"Everyone is bored of the drought. It's like the war. We just have the shortest attention span," said Stephanie Duer, Salt Lake City's water conservation coordinator. "There's just not as much emotion being generated about it."
At Jordan Valley Water Conservancy, conservation program manager Paula Mohedjer agrees that drought interest is waning.
"I do think there has been a decreased emphasis by the press and by some people," she said. "I have wondered if people are just plain tired of hearing about the drought."
And while some agree there is a collective drought yawn across the Wasatch Front, they are hoping the boredom doesn't lead people to forget about conservation.
Data from both the state and from the Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities does indicate people are conserving less in 2004 than they did last year.
In Salt Lake City, which also serves much of Salt Lake County's eastern benches, conservation has also failed to live up to 2003, with usage up 4 percent, Duer said.
Still, water managers are reluctant to blame the increase solely on drought boredom. Instead, they say much of that hiked water consumption is due to a dry, hot spring that forced people to turn their sprinklers on early.
"Weather has such an impact on water use," said Bart Forsyth, assistant general manager for the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy district.
That said, water managers are somewhat concerned about the public losing interest in conservation.
"People are doing a wonderful job of conserving," but "you can only be told about something so many times," Todd Adams, engineering manager for the state division of water resources said.
To combat drought boredom, Mohedjer said conservation advocates may need to switch their message from one that focuses on the drought to one that focuses on growth. After all, she said, given Utah's population increase, water is sure to be a scarce resource in the coming future — drought or no drought.
"If you hear the same stuff for six years it just gets old," she said.
E-mail: bsnyder@desnews.com
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