Awareness is key to water conservation

By: 
Jill Meier, Journal editor

Kevin Smith with the Brandon Water Conservation Committee hands out information at the group’s booth Saturday at Sunshine while fellow members Dana Clark and Patrick Deering look on. Jill Meier/BV Journal

Patrick Deering, a member of the Brandon Water Conservation Committee, enlightens city patrons on the various water conservation measures that are in place in Brandon. The goal of the committee’s presence at Sunshine on Saturay was simple to bring awareness to the program and the reasons behind its need. 

Josh Schmidt was on his way home from hiking on Saturday morning when his wife messaged him to stop by Sunshine Foods and grab a packet of wild flower seeds.

Schmidt, however, didn’t have to go through the checkout line. Instead, he simply had to take a few steps inside the front doors to the Brandon Water Conservation booth where wild flower seeds, irrigation gauges, water bottles, low-flow shower heads, koozies, and a plethora of information on conserving water were all free for the taking.

Schmidt and his family moved to Brandon in July 2019 and currently are in the process of growing new grass in their backyard, so one of the free irrigation gauges went home with him as well.

For three hours on Saturday, committee members Kevin Smith, Patrick Deering, Trudy Papka, Dana Clark and Tami Jansma handed out giveaways, answered questions and encouraged residents to register for one of six rain barrels to be given away.

“The popularity of rain barrels is big,” Smith said. “People are talking about them, and some people that have them, stopped by and told us they would like to have another one.”

Rain barrels capture water from a roof and store it for later use on lawns, gardens or indoor plants. By collecting roof runoff in rain barrels, it reduces the amount of water that flows from the property and doubles as a great way to conserve water at no cost other than the initial cost of a rain barrel, which hovers between $50 and $100, according to city engineer Tami Jansma.

The goal behind the Water Conservation committee’s presence at Sunshine was simply to make the public aware.

“The more we educate our customers, the better they’re going to be about managing water use, not just because ‘I got a really high water bill, now I’m angry,’ then we’ve missed the opportunity to help explain why,” Smith said. “And we will continue to get the message out there, but it never ends. It’s continual.”

Following a public outcry against the city’s water quality and quantity in 2017, water conservation measures in Brandon have gone above and beyond with the formation of first the Water Develop-ment Committee, next the Water Conservation Committee and the 2019 implementation of the city’s Water Smarter Program.

The latter has developed into a full-fledged program of gadget giveaways and rebates for low-flow toilets and the like.

“We have 400 irrigation gauges available at City Hall until they run out, and then Tami will order more,” Smith assured.

One-inch of water per week is all that is needed to maintain lawns, he stressed, “And that’s what we’re trying to help them understand.”

Brandon isn’t alone when it comes to water-related issues, Smith said. Across the nation, the top five concerns as determined by the American Water Works Association report on the state of the water industry are renewal and replacement of infrastructure, financing for capital improvements, public understanding of the value of water systems and services, long-term water supply availability, and public understanding of the value of water.

“These are nationwide issues … and every one of these applies to the city of Brandon, so there’s some comfort in knowing Brandon is not alone in some of the challenges we’ve faced over the last several years and will continue to address in the future,” Smith said. “I don’t know if that gives any-body comfort, but I remember being at a meeting and Mayor (Paul) Lundberg asked, ‘Kevin, isn’t everyone else going through this?’ It reminded me to look up these issues, because the answer is ‘Yes,’ most, if not all communities in the country are having to manage their water supply. Overrid-ing southeastern South Dakota, water will never be so plentiful that we can afford to waste it. Even when the city of Sioux Falls managed to get connected to the Lewis and Clark Regional Water Sys-tem, they didn’t change their water conservation program at all, and even though there was a feeling of, ‘Oh gosh, we have all this water …’ well, you never have so much that you can afford to waste it.”

Again, Saturday’s presence at Sunshine Foods was all about awareness, along the opportunity to pick up water-saving gadgets, information and register for one of six rain barrels given away that day by the city.

“Our message to citizens and businesses that irrigate is you can be part of the solution,” Smith said. “This doesn’t need to be a restriction, because you determine the management level we’re at through your personal use.

The city of Brandon remains in stage 1 of its lawn watering schedule. On Saturday, committee mem-bers stressed that just one inch of water per week is all that is needed to maintain a lawn.

“We don’t want to go to stage 2 or 3,” Smith warned. “We have the mechanism that the city has put in place, so we know what we do next, but we don’t have to get there anytime soon.”

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The Brandon Valley Journal

 

The Brandon Valley Journal
1404 E. Cedar St.
Brandon, SD 57005
(605) 582-9999

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