Lisa Cohne was shocked when she discovered that Utah is the second driest state and one of the highest water users in the nation.
Cohne, an instructional services specialist for Utah Education Network, is promoting an effort by the Water Wise Utah program for which she serves as manager. The effort aims to bring together different organizations, including several on campus, to educate the public about water issues in Utah.
“That generates new projects and new creative ideas,” said Susan Salem, digital project manager at the Marriott Library, which is involved in the effort. “Another part that’s exciting is the connections to the community that we’re making, because water is going to be the issue everyone is going to face.”
The organizations participating include the education network, KUED, the Utah Museum of Natural History, the library and KUER.
“The important theme we’re trying to get across is that saving water creates a ripple effect,” Cohne said. “It starts with an individual, goes through a family, community, business and the entire state.”
The effort to spread awareness about water conservation in Utah began on Sept. 15 when the Museum of Natural History launched an exhibit about the Bear River, which passes through Utah, Idaho and Wyoming. Conservation concerns regarding the river began as a result of the Bear River Compact among the states.
“It tells the states you have so many acre-feet of water that you can take out and develop,” said professor Craig Denton, who helped create the exhibited photo documentary. “Utah is the first of the three states to take their share.”
The water transferred out of the river has raised concerns over conservation because of Utah’s dry climate and rising population, Denton said.
“Water is finite, and we have no more than what we get from year to year,” he said.
The exhibit will be on display at the U until Dec, 31 and will then travel to St. George, Draper, South Jordan and Ogden.
To promote water conservation, KUED will air programs including “Water, the Drop of Life,” a six-part series about how vulnerable Earth’s fresh water supply is. The weekly show will end on Nov. 12. During this time, KUER will also broadcast reports on water conservation topics.
The Marriott Library will contribute to the water saving effort by expanding its Western Waters Digital Library, which was created in 2003. The purpose of the project is to provide resources about water in the West, Salem said. The project includes digital collections on four principle water basins for western states — the Platt, Rio Grande, Colorado and Columbia — and is available at www.westernwaters.org.
“There are over 100,000 digital objects about water in the West,” Salem said.
The Western Waters project also includes government reports, classic water literature, legal transcripts, water project records, personal papers and a photographic collection, she said.
“Water is such a huge subject, and there’s so many facets to information about water,” Salem said. “Everyone has a stake in water since our resources are so in danger.”
Western Waters is collaborating with 12 other universities in eight western states, including Brigham Young University, the University of Arizona, Arizona State University and University of Nevada in Las Vegas.
Water Wise Utah has exhibitions and workshops to teach Utah residents about water conservation, including a Town Hall Meeting on Oct. 11 at the Salt Lake City Library, Cohne said.
Cohne said the effort by the many organizations is working.
“A lot of the time, these organizations don’t talk to each other, and now they really help each other and the community, so it’s been a really unique opportunity,” Cohne said.
Lisa CohneDave Sakrison, mayor of Moab, Utah, speaks at the Water Wise Utah kick-off event on Sept. 20.