By Naghmana Sherazi
Last night, the City Council passed Ordinance C36209 for drought response and water conservation in Spokane. The Sustainability Action Subcommittee proposed the ordinance with strong support from the Spokane Riverkeeper and The Lands Council. There were at least 40 people who gave testimony - Native, climate change activists, geology and environmental science professors from Eastern Washington University, Washington State University, and Gonzaga, engineers, city planning program students from EWU, and landscapers. They all spoke about the need to conserve water and the health of our river during the critical summer months, how the Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer and other eco systems sustain the whole area, and why we must continue to be mindful of the strain on the system moving forward.
The Council voted to adopt the ordinance 5-2, and even though the Mayor had said she would be vetoing the ordinance, it is now veto-proof and will come into effect immediately placing a ban on daytime watering during the hours of 9:00 am and 6:00 pm from June 1st until October 1st.
Here is a copy of my testimony:
Hello - thank you for the opportunity to speak, my name is Naghmana Sherazi, and I am a citizen of Spokane City.
The Spokane River is what gives Spokane life. This whole area is made habitable because of the river. We depend on it for sustenance, recreation, livelihood and to power our daily lives. Ordinance C36209 is more than just a measure to regulate water usage during the summer months. It is a common sense ask that teaches us good stewardship, making good conservation practices a habit, and reminds us that we need to share. Even though it seems that way, unfortunately water is NOT an unlimited resource. We are dependent on the winter snow melt to refill our sole source aquifer and in turn for it to empty its cold water in the river during the critical summer low flow period so salmon and other species can survive. After almost a hundred years we are seeing reintroduction of species of salmon in our area waters. The cool temperature of the water is critical to their survival.
We use the river for recreation – it is free and available to everyone. We can’t say that about many other things; so, it is important for our entire community to be able to access it for use.
We already know we use over 200 gallons of water per person per day in Spokane City, and over 300 gallons per person per day in the Valley during the summer months. That is almost five times more than what people in the rest of the nation use! A lot of water is directed to irrigating our lawns over the summer months. Watering two or three times during the week before 9am and after 6pm for instance, makes the grass roots grow deeper and trains them to be ready and resilient for the hot summer months. If we start now, we can maintain our green lawns without the danger of root damage in the high summer days. On the flip side, we use less water as irrigating during the day also causes water loss due to more evaporation.
As the Climate Justice Program Director of The Lands Council, I urge the City Council to adopt Ordinance C36209 so we can continue to grow responsibly as a city. As my colleague at TLC says, ‘how much you get to drink depends on how many straws there are in the soda!’ There is only one aquifer. We need to learn to conserve and use this resource responsibly by sharing, and for City Council to ensure the City Planners look at these aspects as we continue to grow so we don’t have to keep going back to the drawing board every few years.
