A high-pitched motor whined loudly along a tree-lined sidewalk in front of Hyde Park's City Office. There, dozens of volunteers drilled holes into dirt after removing the turf-covered park strip.
Grow the Flow, Utah Water Ways, and the Cache Water District partnered with the city to replace the building’s grass lawn with native Utah plants, in an attempt to benefit a drying environment with water efficient landscaping.
"A planted area like this will use less water than if it were lawn," said Cynthia Bee, Utah Water Ways community outreach manager. "A lawn takes three to six times more water than a planting bed."
She said she participates in events like this often.
"Last Friday we did the Governor’s Mansion park strip on South Temple, and that project will save about a million gallons of water a year," Bee said.
Grabbing a shovel of her own, Tiffany Atkinson, the mayor of Hyde Park, joined the volunteers. The scrape of shovels moving soil could be heard clearly as crews continued working on the project.
"Water conservation is important to us," she said. "We’re hoping to set an example for our community, so that they can see how it can be done and how it can be done in a beautiful, contributing way that will help preserve water for our community in the future."
Planting flowers and laying down irrigation lines, the people here hope that their efforts can conserve and redirect water to the Great Salt Lake. It has lost 73% of its water since 1850. This loss threatens to expose toxic chemicals from the lakebed, and leaves less water for everyday Utahns to use.
"There is always a possibility things go south," said Autumn Matthews, Cache Water District's education, conservation, and outreach coordinator. "We’re all tied together, and we all have a part to play."
Replenishing the lake is no small task, but people picked up their shovels anyway, coming together to try and do their part.
