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GOSHEN — The hot and dry July is putting pressure on many of Utah's reservoirs, and a few of the smaller ones are already out of water. It has been weeks since any water has been flowing down a ditch in Goshen, and the proof is in the color of residents’ lawns.
“It has been really dry,” said Goshen resident Connie Davis. “It is making everything look really bad.”
And the problem is at Mona Reservoir, which provides irrigation water to Goshen. The water disappeared weeks ago.
“The irrigation water started for the first couple of weeks in May and only went for two to three weeks, and then they shut it down,” said Goshen resident Tony Kropf.
“Reservoir storage is down 2 percent from this time last year, and last year wasn't so great," said hydrologist Randy Julander.
Julander oversees Utah's snowpack. He said while the bigger reservoirs are in good shape, others are not — especially those that provide water for agriculture.
"We have some concern with some of the smaller reservoirs, places like Woodruff Creek, upper and lower Enterprise, Gunnison Reservoir down on the San Pitch River, all of those are basically empty,” Julander said.
Other areas facing water shortage problems include Nine Mile near Sterling in Sanpete County, along with the much larger Yuba Reservoir south of Nephi, which is popular for boating.
But overall statewide, Julander said, most reservoirs are doing their job, providing water during a very hot and dry summer.
The concern is that next year, the reservoirs will have a lot of catching up to do.
