Anonymous water watchdog letter rattles South Ogden homeowner
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- Sprinklers water the front lawn of an Ogden rental home Thursday, July 26, 2018.
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- A South Ogden man said he received this anonymous letter warning him not to waste secondary water.
SOUTH OGDEN — John Hepworth says he has been keeping track of his secondary water usage via the supplier’s installed meter, so he was surprised to get a letter warning him not to overwater during this year’s drought restrictions.
“Please watch your watering carefully, because WE are watching YOU,” said the letter from “The Weber Water Watchdogs.” The letter had no return address or contact information, so Hepworth contacted the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District, which supplies secondary water to his home.
“They were concerned,” Hepworth said, and he was told the agency would investigate.
By logging into Weber Basin’s customer portal for metered secondary water customers, Hepworth tracks the volume of water he uses on his yard. Each user gets a monthly allotment of gallons. Violators can be subject to fines, escalating to $1,000 and a water shutoff for multiple repeat violations.
Hepworth said this is the third season he’s been monitoring his water use with the meter. He said he has stayed under his allotment and does not apologize that his lawn maybe isn’t as parched-looking as some others. He said he’s done an effective job with lawn care, including fertilizer.
A Weber Basin official said the agency hasn’t been able to identify the “Weber Water Watchdogs.”
“Apparently, it’s just a group of citizens, or an individual,” Jon Parry, Weber Basin assistant general manager, said Thursday. “It’s certainly not something we’re engaged in. Somebody is taking it into their own hands. We certainly don’t condone it.”
Hepworth said he wished the letter sender would “knock on my door so I can at least educate them. I can show them I am way below what I’m even allotted.”
The letter said people are restricted to watering once a week this year, but Hepworth noted that metered users can water more than once if they’re staying within their allotment.
Parry called the watchdog letter “an unfortunate situation. Sometimes there’s a lot more information to be had before jumping to conclusions.”
The Utah Department of Natural Resources set up a “fame or shame” tool on its website that invites people to file complaints about water wasting or compliments about instances of water conservation.
The complaint function is aimed at collecting information about “clear or repeated water waste,” visitors are told. “Nobody will be publicly shamed; rather, we will simply forward the report to the local water entity so they can help or educate the property owner.”