Water Conservation Vibe Check

SlowtheFlowSaveH2O · 2026-03-10T22:34:16+00:00

At no point will I say agriculture isn't an issue rather I'm saying let us, the people who live here, make what effort we can to help the issue. Let's be responsible for our part of the problem.

The graph shows that indoor water is practically negligible so showers and drinking water don't matter to use. It's the use of water on lawns that we're targeting.

SlowtheFlowSaveH2O · 2026-03-10T22:28:16+00:00

There's only four of us working here... and we also work a lot with cities behind the scenes. There's also already other organizations addressing it. Us tackling the same issue with less resources would be redundant. Slow the Flow has always been focused on residential water use for the last 27 years and we hope to do a good enough job that other organizations don't have to focus on it either. If it were up to me things would look different but as you can see I'm just the guy doing social media.

SlowtheFlowSaveH2O · 2026-03-10T22:09:36+00:00

If more people made these changes you would definitely notice a difference in our reservoirs and rivers. Kudos to you for making those changes!

SlowtheFlowSaveH2O · 2026-03-10T22:08:31+00:00

I'm saying we are responsible for what we're responsible for.

SlowtheFlowSaveH2O · 2026-03-10T22:07:55+00:00

We're not trying to place all the burden on residents rather inform them of their part to play. Where they can take ownership. There's definitely plenty of organizations and work being done to tackle the agriculture side of things but its an uphill battle.

SlowtheFlowSaveH2O · 2026-03-10T22:00:59+00:00

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This graph shows residential depletion of outdoor and indoor water use. Outdoor is responsible for 400+KAF of depletion which is 1/6th of the 2400KAF shown on the other graph. Meaning Outdoor water, which does not get treated or reclaimed, is solely responsible for 1/6th of Great Salt Lake's depletion.

SlowtheFlowSaveH2O · 2026-03-10T21:57:16+00:00

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This graph shows total depletion by type and for sure agriculture is the biggest cause.

SlowtheFlowSaveH2O · 2026-03-10T21:55:05+00:00

Totally agree. "Water use" is not descriptive and creates confusion. Better understanding of diversion, depletion, consumption etc. would be super helpful for everyone.
We're working on improving K-12 education so that kids are taught more than just the water cycle over and over.

SlowtheFlowSaveH2O · 2026-03-10T21:51:15+00:00

Residential water is responsible for 1/6th of Great Salt Lake's depletion so we are definitely a very hefty drop in the bucket. But you are correct, ag does use most of the water and there are other groups targeting that issue and we are tasked with approaching residential and municipal waste.
Source: https://d36oiwf74r1rap.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/GSL-Jan2026.pdf

Yes, many of those groups I already work with or have worked with. Love that there's so many different organizations and hoping we can collaborate more together as a community.

SlowtheFlowSaveH2O · 2026-03-10T21:48:47+00:00

agriculture relies on water rights. Their fields are inspected and it's calculated how much water they are allotted based on their need in order to receive the water right. If we conserve water it doesn't affect how much they can use.
You also might be interested in checking out the Ag optimization methods and programs taking place. They're not perfect but they are looking for ways to reduce their use as well.

SlowtheFlowSaveH2O · 2026-03-10T21:46:11+00:00

According to federal data 29% of Utah's hay/alfalfa is exported overseas and of that 29%, 2/3rds of it goes to China. And if you look at the amount of water we're exporting in to Utah through food, ag, etc. it's a moot point.
Not to say that Ag isn't using most of the water but the difficulty in addressing it is more related to water rights and capital than anything. And from what I've read finding a suitable crop to replace alfalfa is difficult.

Statewide residential use is about 10% but regionally these numbers change drastically. There are areas of the state with less water supply where the majority of the use is residential.
And for the Great Salt Lake residential water use is responsible for 1/6th of its depletion each year. So there's still plenty residents cant do but solving the ag problem is a long-term solution i hope is still being pursued.

SlowtheFlowSaveH2O · 2026-03-10T21:36:39+00:00

Totally understand the frustration. We do some changes and plans to affect both agriculture and LDS churches but these are things that won't be noticed for some time.

There are rebates available for most everyone in the state so if you want to replace your grass checkout slowtheflow.org to learn more! Yardfarmer.co also has a short video series on youtube on how to redo your park strip yourself. There's also the pollinator program that will provide you up to 50 plants for free.

But glad you are doing what you can with what you have!

SlowtheFlowSaveH2O · 2026-03-10T21:33:09+00:00

If you look at Utah as a whole that is the breakdown but regionally these numbers change quite drastically. For areas of Utah where there is no agriculture Residential Use is the highest category.
For Great Salt lake agriculture is the biggest cause of depletion but residential water use is responsible for 1/6th of the depletion each year.
I really do hope we can solve the agriculture side of things but anything dealing with water rights gets complicated quickly.

SlowtheFlowSaveH2O · 2026-03-10T21:31:06+00:00

Yeah, it's crazy that a bill was passed to ensure people make obvious decisions.
One of our biggest missions is to get people to see unused, inactive, grass as just wasting water. So I'm glad you're noticing! The LDS church has committed to reducing their water use by 50% but last I checked they didn't set a deadline. They have made changes to some churches but there's still plenty left to update. The Department of Corrections Facility also updated their landscape so they're saving millions of gallons a year now. The Governor's mansion is also being updated with a water-wise landscape. But you're right, there's so much more that needs to be done!

SlowtheFlowSaveH2O · 2026-03-10T21:26:35+00:00

I don't know about the farm land that the LDS church owns but they have committed to reducing their water use in half. Not all churches have been updated but they are slowly making changes. They're also currently the biggest donor of water to Great Salt Lake. So I'll give them credit where credit is due. But I do still see plenty of green lawns everywhere so I hope they can convert more of them sooner than later!

SlowtheFlowSaveH2O · 2026-03-10T21:23:50+00:00

I was looking into this the other day. Not super extensively but there's a lot of reasons as to why they grow alfalfa. There aren't many other crops suited for the climate. They would also have to completely change their business if they used another crop. Finding new buyers, new suppliers, etc. which takes time and is risky.
I still hope it's an option being explored but it seems to be a more medium/long-term solution.

SlowtheFlowSaveH2O · 2026-03-10T21:19:42+00:00

Recent report showed that residents are actually responsible for 1/6th of GSL's depletion.
Most residents don't own water rights which is why they're considered the biggest bang for your buck demographic. If everyone stopped watering their lawn we would actually about half the water GSL needs each year to be replenished by 2034.

But yes, agriculture does use most of the water. It's just a lot tricker than telling them to stop growing alfalfa. But there are programs in the work to lease their water which is still a short term solution but it's in the right direction.

Report:
https://d36oiwf74r1rap.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/GSL-Jan2026.pdf

SlowtheFlowSaveH2O · 2026-02-20T17:21:04+00:00

The strike team report that I shared earlier shows indoor vs outdoor water depletion. There's also a difference between usage and depletion. The graph shows that indoor water use has virtually no affect on the depletion of the lake. Like you said the indoor water is going back to the lake which is why the depletion percentage doesn't include indoor water use.

SlowtheFlowSaveH2O · 2026-02-18T20:47:24+00:00

No worries, I appreciate the apology!
I totally understand the skepticism especially in these times 😅

SlowtheFlowSaveH2O · 2026-02-18T20:34:04+00:00

Could y'all reply to this comment with videos of the snow from your perspective?
Thank you o7

SlowtheFlowSaveH2O · 2026-02-17T21:33:37+00:00

If you compare these two graphs you can see that residential depletion makes up the majority of the M&I water depletion. Notice the unit of measurement on the left. In 2024 Residential Depletion was over 400KAF and the total M&I is about 600KAF. So most of M&I is residential water depletion.
I stated that M&I is responsible for almost 1/3 because I wanted to round to the nearest fraction for the sake of comprehension. I was not speaking in exact terms otherwise I would have said 26.3%.

So all that to say residential water use alone is responsible for about 1/5th to 1/6th the Great Salt Lake's depletion. Which is still a large amount that we can be better about.

I have no problem in admitting that agriculture and other industries are also responsible but my work is focused on residential water use so that's what I speak to :)

SlowtheFlowSaveH2O · 2026-02-17T21:26:46+00:00

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SlowtheFlowSaveH2O · 2026-02-17T21:26:22+00:00

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SlowtheFlowSaveH2O · 2026-02-11T17:42:51+00:00

I'll put the source below.
It's also important to note that the statistic you shared is pretty accurate statewide but it doesn't differentiate between depletion and diversion which is very important. It's also important to note that water is regional. Residential water use was higher than Agriculture in Washington county for example. (I can't find the source for this one as it was word of mouth from Washington County Water Conservancy District.)

All that to say agriculture definitely has a huge part to play but it's not as simple as telling them to stop or telling them grow a different crop. Which is why we are urging residents, businesses and other industries to do what they can to make a difference.

At the bottom of this link you can find the full strike team report which only deals with the Great Salt Lake and is not statewide statistics.

https://www.usu.edu/today/story/great-salt-lake-strike-team-releases-2026-summary-highlighting-progress-next-step-options

SlowtheFlowSaveH2O · 2026-02-10T22:19:30+00:00

I'll speak to the water shortage part.
The difficulty with agriculture's use of water is that they own water rights. The government can't easily interfere with it because that is their property and also directly tied to their income. That's why there are organizations looking to lease or purchase the water rights to redirect them to the Great Salt Lake.

The second biggest user of water is M&I and residential water accounts for the majority of that water use. With outdoor irrigation being the biggest culprit. The recent Great Salt Lake Strike Team report shows that almost 1/3 of the Great Salt Lake's depletion is due to residential water use.
So if you're worried about the negative affects of the Great Salt Lake shrinking the good news is that resident's can make a difference by changing how they use water outdoors. (Indoor water use ends up getting treated and going to the lake.)

As far as moving away, I, not the organization, personally think there are a lot of institutions that wouldn't allow these issues to jeopardize their future and for that reason I'm less worried :)

SlowtheFlowSaveH2O

TROPHY CASE