The Utah Division of Natural Resources reported in February that there’s about a 10% chance of reaching a normal peak snowpack this winter. That update follows a January report indicating 94% of the state is currently experiencing some form of drought.
By comparison, about 20% of the state was in drought by the same time last year.
The department’s water conditions update in February also said that reservoir storage is averaging 67% full. While water managers will most likely rely on reservoir storage from previous years, Wasatch County cities and towns are preparing for a dry summer.
Heber City Mayor Heidi Franco said the city will refer to its water shortage plan when faced with drought. That plan is intended to keep the city running as smoothly as possible through temporary water shortages and supply interruptions.
“There are certain strategies that we can do, as far as cutting back on city property watering or then asking residents to only water at certain times,” Franco said. “That’s when things are very, very serious, and so we’re hoping that this spring and early summer will allow us to get moisture through rain.”
The plan outlines priorities of available water use from highest to lowest. That includes, first, health and safety, including residential home uses, medical, sanitation and firefighting. Then, commercial use, existing landscaping and new demand.
Franco said the city is also conducting a well-being survey to help city leaders understand what drought measures, if necessary, residents would want Heber City to take.
“We feel we’ve got the policies in place, but we know we need to communicate with our citizens as to what level of drought we’re at and be able to effectively use those strategies,” Franco said.
Conservation measures, Franco said, can start now.
“We really rely on citizen participation so that they will even start now to conserve the water that they can inside their homes, inside their businesses, as well as outside when spring comes,” Franco said.
Water planning comes first for the city when it comes to new developments and annexations, according to Franco. That ensures there will be enough water to go around when drought occurs. Water rights must be dedicated to the city before building permits are issued to new annexations or developments.
“That’s how we planned rights to take care of the needs of our city. We demand that right up front, and that has to be complied with or people don’t get to build,” Franco said.
That’s the same in Hideout. The small town on the border of Wasatch County also just completed a new audit of the town’s water supply through 2033. That report found the town has little to worry about when it comes to water supply, and that’s even when including upcoming developments.
But Hideout’s full-time occupancy rate is currently at 38%, which makes it easier for the town to conserve water. Mayor Ralph Severini said the town is still keeping a “watchful eye” on the accounting of the town’s water usage. Severini said that every resident in the state needs to be careful when it comes to water usage and that Hideout will continue to “do its part” as a town.
Midway City Councilor Andy Garland, who is the general manager of Mountain Regional Water outside of his city role, said Midway will have a better understanding of the water outlook for the year after getting a water prediction report from the state engineer’s office in a few weeks.
So far, water availability has not been a concern in Midway. The city has secondary, untreated water as well as treated culinary water for use. Garland said Midway City Engineer Wes Johnson has conducted water projection studies to understand how much water the city will have in the future.
“Based on our population and everything, we are in good shape. But, normally, predictions are based on having ‘average’ years, and this year has not been average,” Garland said.
Midway is home to about 6,000 residents.
Garland said that the city has not yet discussed as a council what the Midway’s drought approach should be, but that the discussion will likely be an agenda item in an upcoming City Council meeting. He said some voluntary measures and restrictions will likely go into place this summer.
Like in Heber City, those voluntary restrictions include limiting water use outdoors. Garland said some guidelines could include watering landscaping every other day or, in certain parts of the city, only watering at specific times.
“If sources are being taxed, your first priority is health and safety. Making sure there’s water for firefighting, making sure there’s drinking water, water to bathe in. So that takes priority over your outdoor irrigation,” Garland said.
In February, Midway finalized its high-risk wildfire zones in compliance with state law. With knowledge of what areas are high-risk, Garland said it’s important to keep in mind that firefighting is a necessary part of water use.
“We need people to cooperate and not plan on watering every day outside, not washing their car outside in their yard and being smart about how they water, when they water,” Garland said.
All three leaders said that water conservation is not up to just one city. Instead, each municipality should do what it can to conserve water as efficiently as possible.
“I think Midway residents should be just as concerned as everybody else in the state,” Garland said. “This is just not an isolated Midway problem. It’s a statewide problem.”