Snowstorms bring smiles to water managers, but no cure yet for drought
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- A break in the winter weather reveals snow-covered trees near Powder Mountain on Jan. 17, 2019.
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- Utah snow water equivalent totals from the National Water and Climate Center on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023. Purple signifies areas with precipitation of 150% or greater above average so far during the water year, which began Oct. 1, 2022.
LAYTON — Water managers are thrilled by snowfall that’s been 150% or more of normal so far this water year, but reservoirs still are only 40% full because of the prolonged drought.
“We are so far behind, it is just a great relief to see the snowpack. It’s great for our reservoirs, the Great Salt Lake, the Colorado River,” Scott Paxman, general manager and CEO of the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District, said Tuesday.
The snow water equivalent measurements in most Utah basins are well above average so far in the water year, which began Oct. 1, according to data as of Tuesday from the National Water and Climate Center.
The Weber-Ogden river basin is at 157% of normal, compared to Provo-Jordan rivers and Utah Lake (168%), and Bear River (149%).
“We could fill the reservoirs this year if we stay at 150% to 170%” until the spring, Paxman said. “But it will still take several years to get where we need to be in some areas of the state.”
While Wasatch Front residents see snow everywhere they look this week, the region remains gripped in a drought, a condition that worsened across the West in recent years. As of Tuesday, the U.S. Drought Monitor reported that most of Utah remains in severe or extreme drought despite the recent wave of snowstorms.
Weber Basin last fall diverted 23,000 acre feet of water into the Great Salt Lake that typically would have been channeled into Willard Bay, Paxman said.
“With these storms the rivers are higher, but it’s still significantly going to take a ton more” to counter the drought, Paxman said. The agency plans to continue diversions into the lake, which is imperiled by historic low levels, he said.
Maintaining adequate storage in Weber Basin’s network of reservoirs and flowing more into the Great Salt Lake greatly depends on everyone saving water, Paxman said.
“We’re constantly going to be pushing conservation,” he said. “Even in times of sufficient water, we really need to drive down the per capita use of each individual. We’ve woken up the people of the state because of the drought years, but with the population growing we need to reduce the water we’re using significantly. Hopefully the public will respond.”
Weber Basin last year began a “flip your strip” program under which users of secondary water are paid to tear out grass on street-side parking strips. He said 640,000 square feet of sod has been torn out so far.