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Show and immoral city. It was, for early settlers, a place in which the mother would raise the children and act as manager of the home. With pervasive expansion, connection with nature is inherently lost. Sprawl has undoubtedly caused an " incremental annihilation of the natural environment," which was precisely what the American Dreamers sought access to ( Katz 13). Furthermore, anyone that is not at the very outside edge of growth still feels a lack of connection to nature. Even a large fenced back yard doesn't separate oneself from knowing exactly what artificiality lies just beyond the vinyl shield. The fence has become a cheap lie, an introverting and degrading device; a blatant imitation in the pursuit of nature's connection. All seem to find themselves within the fence and never outside. As each new wave of growth has and continues to seek her own piece of natures' past, the effort to get outside becomes increasingly difficult, and often impractical. The isolating devices of the automobile and fence which are linked with sprawl further disconnect people with the realities of place or site. Individual cognition of the dream becomes blurred by the process of searching. As daily commutes lengthen in separate vehicles, both husband and wife sacrifice in search for the American Dream. The pursuit of the American dream becomes just that, a pursuit; a longing for something that is never entirely attainable, a goal whose very process bars its societal fulfillment. As a result of the modernist influence, the valley also saw a submersion of nearly all the creeks below the city fabric, which reinforced a disconnection with nature and the source of the valley's life and sustenance. Water was now fed through a manmade system of dams, reservoirs, hidden tanks, and covered pipes, taking almost full advantage of all the available surface and ground water. Together with the disappearance of water came a lost perception of available water supply. No longer could seasonal fluctuations be seen manifested in the stream beds. The complete utilization of available water coupled with subsidized water pricing has encouraged water use. In fact, the state has become the second highest per- capita water user despite its arid climate. • Area Subculture Politics Although sprawl and disconnected normalization continues, future changes are promising. Recent and pending alterations in public policy and planting requirements express the city government's concern for water- wise planning. The LDS church has also reciprocated by adding their concern. Despite the cooperation of area government and church leadership, the public is becoming more divided on the acute risks of water shortage and conservation. Many in the valley seem to classify water conservation as a mere political issue rather than a necessary reality with immediate physical and personal implications. Water conservation becomes, for many, an environmental issue in which individual opinions are often drawn starkly down political lines. The seemingly widening divide between political parties is paralleled in the dividing extremist views regarding the environment. A polarization of ideologies exists in Salt Lake as evidenced by heated debates over the Legacy Highway and Trax. Regional and Area Risks The risks of water shortage and degraded water quality are very serious in the West and in the Salt Lake area. The Colorado River is, as previously explained, already overtaxed. The continued population growth throughout the West is projected to increase by one million inhabitants per year over the next three decades, further impacting the ability to satisfy water supply needs ( Kasindorf, 11 A). The greatest risk to water supply is controlled by the seasonal and regional fluctuations in weather patterns and rainfall. A fourth consecutive year of drought has brought the West associated reductions in aquifer and reservoir levels. Reduced water flows in runoff areas and rivers threaten to forever impact the watersheds for which much plant and animal life is dependant. Although the future of disappearing water to the Salt Lake valley may soon be relieved as stages of the CUP are completed, the project is far from a fix- all. By diverting the water to Utah and other upstream states, the problem of scarcity does not withdraw, it merely shifts. Additionally, even the entire completion of the CUP would only satisfy the needs of the Salt Lake Valley for a few decades based on projected growth patterns ( Kasindorf, 11 A). A completely sustainable solution has not been developed or determined. Regional dams also provide threats. Although they help store and distribute water and have been necessary for growth, they are beginning to provide challenging problems to water quality. They have radically affected " the saline mix and nutrients in downstream deltas." They have also continuously accumulated silt which has forever changed ecosystems ( Villiers, 139). Irrigation also poses its own set of challenges to maintaining water quality. Salination of soil caused by poor drainage is killing the land's ability to produce food at a rate of " more than 1 million hectares a year" ( Villiers, 140). Marq De Villiers goes on to say that, " Without great care and skillful management, irrigation almost inevitably causes waterlogging, depletion and pollution of the water supply, and rising salinity in the soil" ( Villiers, 141). Concentration and accumulation are the problems with rising salinity of irrigated soils. Proper drainage and careful irrigation controls can reduce or eliminate these problems, but the cost is often prohibitive. The Salt Lake Valley is an example of endless struggle with salinity. Salt Lake area runoff water has high salt concentrations beginning in the mountain streams as they pick up mineral deposits through their descent into the valleys. Water softening, a process very common to valley households, removes the deposits from drinking water, but adds higher salt concentration to the effluent, or runoff. Irrigation then adds another layer of salts to the system, which may effectively poison the water. These challenges of water salinity are preventing sanction of gray water systems by local governments. The doomsayers are not, of course, without critics. One of the most renowned is Eugene Stakhiv of the Army Corps of Engineers. 5 |
