JACKSON, Wyo. — In a unanimous motion on Jan. 20, Town Council approved a water efficiency strategy to draft an irrigation ordinance in order to curb water usage in Jackson during the summer months.
To introduce the subject, Ecosystem Stewardship Administrator Tanya Anderson and new Public Works Director Johnny Ziem presented a set of findings gathered during public engagement sessions related to water use and conservation strategies. Public sentiment in these talks suggested changes like increased tiered water rates, irrigation ordinances and land development regulations.
Water is used in the Town of Jackson primarily for domestic use, fire suppression and irrigation.
Anderson explained that many communities use a combination of water conservation education and irrigation ordinances to manage water usage in summer months, including Bozeman, Montana; Cody and Torrington, Wyoming; and Breckenridge, Steamboat Springs and Eagle, Colorado.
Public comment was varied and mostly centered around calls to improve infrastructure rather than restrictions.
Valerie Brown, of East Jackson, commented on the density of her part of town. She wondered why the conversation was centered around restriction. “This is not a water issue, this is an infrastructure issue, in my opinion,” Brown said.
Dan Tucson, of Lower Valley Landscape Service, requested that the ordinance be a last resort and echoed Brown’s sentiment that the problem was not a water shortage, but an infrastructure issue.
After public comment, Ziem reminded the meeting attendees that the ordinance would not necessarily go into effect immediately, but rather would be saved in case it was necessary.
In closing statements, Mayor Arne Jorgensen said he was comfortable with a permanent ordinance and didn’t understand why it seemed so many were so resistant to it.
“I understand and said it multiple times over the summer: This is not a supply issue,” Jorgensen began. “We should be conserving because it’s the right thing to do. When we pull pristine water out of the ground and touch it, it doesn’t matter whether it’s domestic, fire [suppression], or irrigation, we’re degrading the quality of that water. We live in what will be, maybe not locally, but certainly regionally, a greater and greater water-constrained environment. We are a community that should be conserving our resources as effectively as we can. And ordinances are effectively the tool we need to get there.”
