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OGDEN, Utah (AP) -- Farmers and ranchers in Box Elder County are expected to get all the water they need this year, but the county also could experience flooding like last year's.
Water managers in northernmost Utah are happy to have the prospects of full reservoirs and are preparing for the possibility of getting a bit too much water.
"We're smiling," said Tage Flint, executive director of the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District, which manages reservoirs from Park City to Ogden.
"We're projecting now that all our reservoirs will fill this year, which is great news. As far as flooding goes, we are leaving Pineview Reservoir down a bit, even more so than last year, to accommodate any kind of runoff. We are leaving East Canyon down for the same reason."
The snowpack for the Weber drainage, which supplies most of the Wasatch Front from Davis County north, is at 120 percent of average. The Bear River drainage, which feeds Bear Lake, most of the ranches and farms in Box Elder County and the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, is at 128 percent of normal.
Some major supply areas, such as Tony Grove, are at 150 percent of normal.
Bear Lake is still at 29 percent of capacity and is a long way from filling, but the runoff and irrigation are expected to be a lot better this year.
Dan Davidson, manager of the Bear River Canal Co., said Bear Lake peaked at 5,909.69 feet above sea level last year, and it is already at 5,908.93 feet this year, and the nearly 2,000 farmers who use the canal are expected to get full allotments this year.
"I don't see any restrictions on their stream flow," he said. "With the storage water and the natural flow, I don't see any reason to cut them down any."
Al Trout, manager of the Bear River Bird Refuge, said he is already having to let water go past the refuge into the Great Salt Lake. The refuge is full now, he said, and will stay that way until July and August, when irrigation takes almost everything out of the Bear River.
That means sections of the refuge will still go dry in July and August, but that is normal, he said.
Meanwhile, areas around the refuge that were dry during the drought have gotten wet again, "and we're finding that once those areas get water again, they are amazingly productive."
Brian McInerney, hydrologist for the U.S. Weather Service in Salt Lake City, said the heavier snowpack on the Bear River drainage means Cache and Box Elder counties face some danger of runoff-caused flooding.
Runoffs in Blacksmith Fork and the Bear River could exceed flood stage under some circumstances, he said.
The best scenario would be for the weather to warm up now, pushing daytime temperatures into the 70s, and cooling at night and remaining dry. Then the snow will start melting at a normal pace.
McInerney said the bad scenario would be a repeat of last year -- staying cold and with heavy rain.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
