SALT LAKE CITY — A website created to take complaints about water wasters is getting flooded with complaints.
LINK: Submit your water waster complaints here
The Utah Division of Water Resources that as of Thursday afternoon, it had received 1,087 reports to its "Fame or Shame" website. That's just within the first 24 hours of the site being publicized in Utah's ongoing drought emergency. Of those tips, 28 were considered "fame" or praising someone for water conservation. The remaining 1,059 are "shame" and reporting a water waster.
By comparison? There were 167 complaints in all of 2020.
At a news conference with Governor Spencer Cox on Utah's drought emergency, FOX 13 asked where Utahns could go to report water wasting. That's when water division deputy director Candice Hosenyager revealed the site. The governor himself said he supported a little "water shaming."
The Utah Division of Water Resources said it has gotten a few complaints accusing them of publicly shaming people. But the website never posts any complaints publicly. Instead, the reports are taken by the agency and passed along to local water districts who can reach out and find ways to help the offending location to be more water wise and fix problems.
