Utah's May rain helps; drought still looms


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SALT LAKE CITY — May's relentless rainstorms have delivered more than four times the amount of normal precipitation in thirsty southern Utah and left the Wasatch Front with triple the usual amount. The rain, responsible for flooding in many areas of the state, is helping to prop up reservoir storage, allowing farmers and other users of secondary water to take a vacation from the faucet.

"Where it has been helpful is that people are irrigating their landscape with rainwater and not using stored water," said Brian McInerney, hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City.

McInerney compiled an analysis of how much the rain — 5 to 6 inches from May 1 to May 25 in northern Utah — has helped with the state's water supply situation.

"I think the main message is that the rain is helping, but not as much as your senses would feel because it has been so wet and so cool during May," he said. "But the reality is that we have had an absence of snow and snowpack, and our water supply remains low."

While it may feel like parts of the state may never dry out, McInerney said the rainfall has done little to help streams and rivers.

The Weber River, as an example, is running at 300 cubic feet per second at the Oakley measuring station and should be at about 800 cubic feet per second. In 2011, with the state coming off record snowfall, the river was at 3,000 cubic feet per second, McInerney said.

The Bear River, he added, already experienced its peak flows for the runoff season.

In southern Utah's Dixie, which finished the water year with less than half its typical snowpack, the rains have been a help, but not as much as some people might think.

"I know it has greatly lowered our demand, and our soil moisture is up. It is great for the irrigators and for the overall health of the watershed," said Karry Rathje, spokeswoman for the Washington County Water Conservancy District.

Deseret News Graphics
Deseret News Graphics

"We still have low flows in the river and … very little snowpack," Rathje said. "It certainly has not been a silver bullet solution down here in the south."

At the Provo River Water Users Association, the rainfall did not keep the organization's board from voting Thursday to implement an interim allocation that cuts usage to 41 percent of 100,000 acre-feet.

Manager Jeff Budge said reservoirs on the system, such as Deer Creek, look full but looks are deceiving.

"A lot of the water, over half of it, is water that has been saved from previous years," Budge said.

The rain has slowed usage, but reductions are still necessary to maintain as much storage as possible, he added.

"We have some users like Lehi that have put their users on restrictions this year because they used most of their water last year," Budge said. "Others, like the Metropolitan District of Sandy and Salt Lake, they had enough water saved from previous years."

Like McInerney, Budge said the rain is having an impact, but it will not be enough to wash away the effects of four dry years.

"It is helpful, but it is not resolving our drought situation," he said.

An update on conditions released Thursday by the U.S. Drought Monitor shows that the majority of the state remains in moderate to severe drought. A western chunk of Utah that includes portion of Box Elder, Tooele and Juab counties remains in extreme drought.

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