Sugar House Park pond drained due to historically low water flows in Parleys Creek system

SALT LAKE CITY — Visitors to Sugar House Park may notice a dramatic change this summer: The park's pond is drained because of extremely low water flows in the watershed that feeds it.

The pond is actually a detention basin, though it's considered a "cherished feature" of the park, according to Salt Lake County Parks and Recreation.

"It is engineered to capture heavy runoff and storm surges to prevent flooding in surrounding neighborhoods," officials said.

Signs posted around the popular Salt Lake County park this July tell visitors the pond has been temporarily drained, but Salt Lake City Public Utilities officials said some information that's been shared is inaccurate.

Public utilities manages Mountain Dell and Little Dell Reservoirs up the canyon for flood control and culinary water. They also monitor creek flows.

"I think there is some erroneous information on the Sugar House Park Authority website that said water is not coming out of our Mountain Dell reservoir, when in fact it is," public utilities deputy director Jesse Stewart said. "All the flows that are going into the reservoir are coming out the downstream side."

Stewart said the volume of water reaching the pond is at historically low levels. The creeks that feed into the reservoirs are running low.

"For the month of July, they are at low record numbers," he said. "There's just not water in sufficient volumes coming into the pond right now."

John Wells, hydrology manager with public utilities, said nearly all available flow from Parley's Creek is currently being allowed to continue downstream.

"We actually are bypassing everything in Parley's Creek right now, except for an eighth of it that goes into Little Dell Reservoir," Wells said.

Because the creeks feeding the system have seen such low flows, Salt Lake County Park and Recreation officials decided to drain the pond rather than allow water to sit stagnant during the summer heat.

"It'd be hot. It's shallow. And you might have some water quality issues," Stewart said.

In a statement, Salt Lake County Parks and Recreation explained that draining the pond does not involve completely emptying it. Instead, officials opened the downstream control gate that normally retains water in the pond. Water is still moving through the system, but at a much slower rate. It's not like pulling the plug on a bathtub.

"Even if the gate is left closed, there is not enough incoming water flow during this drought to fill the pond enough to support healthy circulation," they wrote.

The county will determine when conditions improve enough to close the gate and allow the pond to refill.

Wells said the pond may not return to more typical levels until the next runoff season because the creeks are running so low.

"The takeaway is, yes, we're OK this year, but in future years, just know that we need to do a good job of conserving what we have," Wells said.

Meanwhile, questions remain about wildlife impacts.

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources told KSL it does not expect major impacts on waterfowl from the lowered water levels. However, dozens of dead ducks were observed along the shoreline during a visit to the park. Wildlife officials are investigating. One possibility being considered is that some of the ducks were domesticated birds that had been abandoned at the park.

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