As part of Utah State University's Year of Water, Access Utah arranged a conversation about all-things water.
"USU is a global pioneer in developing better ways to manage and deliver the water we depend on. Researchers here are learning more about water management from the atmosphere, to mountain top, to seashore, to the faucet and the field. We are collecting new information at every level to help us use water more wisely."
Radhika Fox, CEO Value of Water Coalition
Water is life. It nourishes us. It cleans us and sustains us. Put simply, water is you. The average American uses 176 gallons of water per day—that’s 64,240 gallons a year!40% of water in America is used to produce the food we eat and the beverages we drink. How is water used in your home? On average, 17% goes toward showering, 27% is used by the toilet, your faucet drains 15%, your clothes washer another 22%, miscellaneous needs take up 5%, and those pesky leaks steal another 14%. If drinking water and soda pop cost equally, your water bill would skyrocket more than 10,000%.
Jeremy Redd, Blanding, Utah City Manager
Blanding is on a mesa with no nearby rivers and depends almost entirely on snowmelt for its culinary and agricultural water supply. City Manager Jeremy Redd thinks Blanding residents might be more aware of their water situation than residents in more urban areas, which may help to explain the area’s voluntary conservation effort which resulted in 18 percent less culinary water used in 2013 than in 2012.
Betsy Damon, environmental activist, artist, planner and designer
Environmental art pioneer, Betsy Damon, creates large-scale art parks featuring sculptural flow forms and public art events to help clean urban waterways and raise water awareness around the globe. Forty years ago, Betsy Damon stepped outside her traditional art training and carved a unique path to work with the environment, communities, science and art. Early in the 1970’s she was engaged in the women's movement where she founded No Limits for Women Artists, a network to join and support female artists.
Betsy Damon will be visiting the Utah State University campus, presenting Keepers of the Waters - at the vanguard of integrated approaches to a vast complexity of water issues through collaborative innovative design, community organizing, mentoring, educating, providing workshops, and functioning as a cross cultural resource. Friday, October 9th, 7 pm at the Eccles Science Learning Center Emert Auditorium, Room 130 - FREE ADMISSION.
