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SOUTH WEBER, Davis County — The next 24 hours are crucial for homeowners along the Weber and Ogden rivers. Thankfully, there is someone to help.
"They call me water master, but that don't mean nothin'," Ron Anderson said.
Anderson works with South Weber Irrigation.
Every day, twice a day, Anderson makes the trek down to check out the water flowing through an irrigation system in South Weber.
"A lot of the sticks and twigs and garbage that come down the river come through here," Anderson said.
That is where his job comes in: cleaning out the screens, so it does not cause a ripple effect.
"Catches a lot of the debris that would normally go through the system," Anderson said.
He says the water is traveling a long way to get here, likely Smith and Morehouse, down into Rockport, Echo, then rushing into South Weber and beyond.
He said this irrigation system pushes out around a million gallons of water a month.
"If I opened it too fast, the pipes are big enough and there's enough pressure that it would take Highway 89 out in a matter of 20 minutes, probably," Anderson said.
Aside from a little help here and there, he is a one-man band taking care of all this. There are no missed beats.
"Every day, if not, it plugs up the system. Nobody has any water, and then it's … my lawn's dying," Anderson said.
The cement wall has a dark spot. It indicated how high the water is hitting on the other side.
"We'd be underwater right now," Anderson said.
When climbing on top of the wall, he said it can be nerve wracking.
"You can feel the water hitting that cement, even though it's thick and everything. It shakes like a mini earthquake," Anderson said.
With every turn of the wheel, debris is cleared out. What doesn't catch here, he has caught himself. He has caught all kinds of things.
"Oh, my heckin's, that's somebody's La-Z-Boy!" Anderson said.
