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Mayor Staley urges water conservation as city monitors reservoir levels amid drought
Summary
In a February message, Mayor Staley warned of a "very significant drought," said county reservoirs are "about 73% full," and urged residents to limit lawn watering; he credited local turf removal efforts for saving water but presented the figures as estimates from his remarks.
Mayor Staley used his February mayor's message to urge Washington City residents to conserve water as the region faces a "very significant drought." He said the county's reservoirs are "at about 73% full," a figure he described as "remarkably high" only because of last year's wetter conditions and warned that early or excessive lawn watering this spring could quickly deplete storage.
Staley pointed to the city's turf-replacement program as an example of local conservation. "Washington City is number 2 in the entire state in terms of grass removal and replacement with natural or desert scape," he said, adding that the city has removed "around 700,000 square feet of grass since the program began," which he said is "enough to provide water for 1,200 homes." Those figures were presented by the mayor during his remarks and have been attributed to city program reporting; they were not independently verified in the address.
Officials did not announce any new mandatory restrictions during the message. Instead, Staley appealed to residents to "be water wise to the extent that you possibly can" and to delay or reduce lawn irrigation if possible. The mayor said community-wide conservation, combined with hoped-for winter precipitation, would protect reservoir levels.
The mayor framed the appeal as both practical and cultural: "living in this desert and acting like it," meaning being good stewards of water. He did not announce a specific enforcement action or a new city ordinance in the address.
Staley concluded by noting that he hopes to report back next month with improved snowpack and reservoir levels.
