20070709 Water Expert Jeff Glass: Water restrictions only weeks away

Water Expert Jeff Glass: Water restrictions only weeks away

Drought and water issues persist

July 11th, 2007

Westminster’s Acting Public Works Director Jeff Glass told Channel 2’s Jeff Hager last Monday that perhaps “sooner than the next two weeks our drought management plan will be such that we've hit the triggers to cause us to go to code yellow at that point, and that's voluntary restrictions.”

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What is amazing to me is that in spite of all the media attention to Westminster’s water challenges in the last 6 years, one can still travel about Westminster on a hot day and see folks watering their yards.

Now I made a living as a landscaper and nursery stock farmer for twenty-five years and I understand the value of plants and landscaping as much as the next person – but a green lawn is not more important that people and adequate supplies of drinking water is a basic health, safety, and welfare matter.

So I guess what folks who are watering their lawns are callously communicating is that their lawn is more important than the health, safety and welfare of their friends, neighbors, loved ones, family and fellow city residents…

Anyway, Channel 2 ran the story last Monday, July 9th, 2007, on the purchase of Hyde’s Quarry and the current lack of rainfall. Try as I might, I could not find the video on their web site. Nevertheless, Channel 2 said, in part:

July 9, 2007 8:29 PM Water Restriction For Westminster Weeks Away

http://www.abc2news.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=B5FB8B71-6426-43DA-B554-226A9F191FB1&gsa=true

Posted By: jeff hager

The experts believe this quarry due west of Westminster may hold as much as 150 million gallons of water, but tapping into it may be years away.

[…]

And that recurring problem will prompt the city to call upon its residents to cut back in just a matter of weeks, according to Acting Public Works Director Jeff Glass. "I'd say that sooner than the next two weeks our drought management plan will be such that we've hit the triggers to cause us to go to code yellow at that point, and that's voluntary restrictions."

[…]

In a matter of weeks, Westminster residents will be asked to cut back on watering their lawns, washing their cars and to adopt other conservation measures to keep the restrictions from becoming mandatory.

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