Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Salt Lake City plans water conservation despite a promising snowpack season.
- Moderate drought conditions persist, which may affect snowpack runoff.
- The city is waiting to see how much snowpack it collects before controlled releases, benefitting the Great Salt Lake.
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's capital city has — over the past two years — had enough water at the end of winter to give the Great Salt Lake a small boost through controlled releases from the reservoirs it manages.
That could happen again this spring, but leaders of the department that oversees water in Salt Lake City, along with other communities in Salt Lake County, are still evaluating the final few weeks of the snowpack-collection season before that happens.
Laura Briefer, director of Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities, told KSL.com last week that the city was still discussing with other water organizations it collaborates with to explore the city's controlled release "opportunities." Salt Lake City isn't too concerned about reservoir storage or water availability this year, but she and other experts still aren't sure what to expect once this year's snowpack melts.
"It's just a little bit early for us to make those decisions because we still have some time left for us to either gain additional water in our snowpack or lose some to evaporation," she said. We really want to make sure that we have a good picture of what our snowpack looks like — and our water storage."
Salt Lake's 'great' season
Briefer and John Wells, a hydrologist for the department, presented city leaders with a snowpack update on March 4. Wells pointed to data — that has since improved — to show how normal this season has been in terms of snowpack collection.
The city tracks eight Natural Resources Conservation Service sites that help understand its water supply forecast. As of Monday, most of those sites were running above normal for this point in the year and nearing their respective median averages for an entire season.
Salt Lake City's key snowpack sites
Salt Lake City relies heavily on multiple Salt Lake County creeks along with a portion of Deer Creek Reservoir for water needs. These are how its eight key Salt Lake County snowpack sites were faring as of Monday.
- Atwater (Little Cottonwood Canyon): 38.6 inches of snow-water equivalent (site established in 2023; no normal comparison yet).
- Brighton (Big Cottonwood Canyon): 18.3 inches of snow-water equivalent (6.1 inches below seasonal average with 31 days before normal peak).
- Lookout Peak (Emigration Canyon): 23.8 inches of snow-water equivalent (3.8 inches below seasonal average with 36 days before normal peak).
- Louis Meadow (City Creek Canyon): 18.1 inches of snow-water equivalent (0.9 inches below seasonal average with seven days before normal peak).
- Millcreek Canyon: 15.7 inches of snow-water equivalent. (Site established in 2025; no normal comparison yet).
- Mill D North Fork (Big Cottonwood Canyon): 25.4 inches of snow-water equivalent (1.6 inches below seasonal average with 32 days before normal peak)
- Parleys Upper: 17.8 inches of snow-water equivalent (Site established in 2020; no normal comparison yet).
- Snowbird (Little Cottonwood Canyon): 31.2 inches of snow-water equivalent (11.7 inches below seasonal average with 48 day before normal peak)
All of the sites are part of the Provo-Utah Lake-Jordan snowpack basin, which entered this week with a running total 107% above the median average this point in the year. The basin's average is a little less than 3 inches below the basin's annual median average, but there's 29 days left in the typical season.
Another storm is forecast to arrive in Utah later this week, which should help.
Wells says the numbers are "great," but it's nothing special like the record-setting 2023 water year. This year's collection does mean that flooding is not a concern right now, but he cautions that a normal season will likely mean the city will ask residents again to reduce water consumption as much as possible.
"We're still in the arid West so (we'll need to) still practice conservation efforts," he said. "Median in the desert is still median in the desert."
Drought's impact
What doesn't help is that most of Salt Lake County, including Salt Lake City, remains in moderate drought, while the Wasatch Mountains to the east are "abnormally dry." Abnormally dry conditions returned to the region after a mostly hot and dry end to 2024 before this year's snowpack began to collect.
Jordan Clayton, a hydrologist for the Conservation Service, explained earlier this year that soil moisture conditions are essentially locked in place once snowpack collection begins. Experts have learned through recent droughts that some of the water in the snow will go toward recharging dry soils instead of flowing into the streams, creeks and rivers that feed into reservoirs.
It's unclear yet how much snowpack will be lost in the ground during this year's spring snowmelt, but state water managers warned last month that there could be below-average runoffs even in areas with snowpack totals closer to normal.
What does help is the state's reservoir system remains 81% full, well above March normal. Deer Creek and Jordanelle, which Salt Lake City has a stake in for additional water needs, are up to 86% and 80%, respectively. Both are below levels last March, but above their March median averages. That means less water is needed to recharge it and many other Utah reservoirs this spring.
Briefer said the city anticipates knowing how much water — if any — it can send to the Great Salt Lake in the coming weeks, as this snowpack season comes to an end. Those measures would also combat flooding risks at the reservoirs.
Hydrologists are also tracking another trend that could factor into the city's water supply this year. Long-range forecasts project warmer and drier conditions could return by the end of meteorological spring. Last year's conditions sparked about a 5% increase in water use within Salt Lake City's system, and hydrologists fear it could happen again.
The department is exploring new water rates, including higher rates for big consumers, as part of long-term plans to address the city's water needs. In the near-term, Briefer said residents can help out by waiting until late spring and early summer to begin any outdoor irrigation.
"We are ready to roll out similar water conservation messaging as years past, including last year," she said. "Water conservation is important. While this year is shaping up to be an average year, we ... don't know what next year or the following years are going to bring us. We really want to maximize our storage and our reservoirs to help us through those years."
