WEBER COUNTY, Utah — With record-low snowpack, the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District is changing how residents can use water outdoors this year.
The amount of water allocated for outside watering will be reduced by 20 percent, and instead of watering between April and October, they are changing that to May to September.
For Ogden resident Stephen Tallant, his yard could look a little different this year.
"These beds here, we plant flowers in typically, this year, I don’t know if we'll put anything in,” said Tallant. "Typically I don’t use a lot of water in May, but I do in September, because September could be hot till the third week or so, that’s a concern. And who knows how hot it’s going to get."
He lives on a mountain, so he is worried about fire danger if he lets his lawn dry out. But it’s the other green thing he's thinking about, too.
"I understand the conservation part of it, totally get that. What I don’t get, and I don’t understand why you’re not going to issue a credit like on my next year's taxes, for services that you’re not rendering."
But according to Weber Basin Water Conservancy District CEO Scott Paxman, water services aren't the only thing they pay for.
"We don’t give rebates because it’s a block of water, you can use it how you want,” said Paxman. “Honestly, water is very minimal on the cost. It's all the infrastructure and manpower and everything else that goes into delivering water to your house, and that doesn’t reduce."
Tallant said he hopes to get some reprieve.
“We pay them a lot of money and they’re not delivering on what I paid them for. And I think a lot of other people I talked to are frustrated and feeling the same way."
