Drought-induced watering restrictions have gone by the wayside across the Wasatch Front in the face of record snowpacks and a return of moist conditions.

However, officials still want residents to take care while watering and be cautious of excess lest the state end up in the situation it was in once again.

Jon Parry, assistant general manager of the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District, told the Standard-Examiner that the district had to go to extremes for a couple of years.

“The last year or two, the watering restrictions that have been in place have been strictly drought response measures,” he said. “We were put into a situation where our reservoirs weren’t refilling. We had some pretty historic drought conditions over the last couple of years that meant we had our reservoirs draining to meet the drinking water, irrigation and agricultural demands of our service area, and we weren’t getting the replenishment due to winter storms that we normally get to basically have status quo conditions. We had to implement some pretty restrictive watering restrictions as it related to outdoor water use last year.”

He said it was also partially implemented to prepare for this water year, which at the time was a big unknown.

Brady Herd, Ogden’s public utilities manager, told the Standard-Examiner that the city has also been able to do away with its drought-induced watering restrictions.

“We pull some of the water that we treat from Pineview (Reservoir),” he said. “Pineview is forecast to fill a couple of times over based on how the snowpack is forecast this year.”

He added that, while the special restrictions have been lifted, municipal code still bans lawn watering between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Parry said conservation is still on water officials’ minds, even in better water years like this one.

“We are still very much engaged and pushing the efficient and reduced utilization of our limited water resources as a behavioral and structural change to how we use our water,” he said. “We won’t have watering restrictions like we have over the last several years this year. … We will still continue to push for education, try to push people towards our customer portal. … The expectation is that our water users are still using the water efficiently and staying within their contracted volume.”

He said they will also continue to encourage people use the state’s watering recommendations, which are based on current weather patterns.

Herd said there are incentives out there for additions to sprinkler systems (smart controllers), low-flow toilet installation and the Flip Your Strip program to help cut down on water use.

However, Parry said everyone who uses water from landscaping to irrigation will have to look at how it can be done better.

“One thing we all need to beware of — with increasing population, with changing climate patterns and, quite frankly, just the need to ensure that we’re using our limited water resources as efficiently as possible — we will have to continue to look for efficiency gains in our system,” he said.

Through heightened education, Parry said he hopes that, even in drier years, the need to impose major restrictions will be minimized.

“We don’t want them to be the norm,” he said. “They are an aggressive approach to an immediate need. What we want to have happening is adoption and public traction gained in education.”

Newsletter