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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's record snowpack this season is steadily making its way into the state's reservoirs, helping the entire system get closer to its mid-May average.
And though this winter brought much-needed relief to the state after one of its worst droughts on record, Gov. Spencer Cox reiterated Wednesday evening that it shouldn't stop practices implemented over the past few years to reduce water consumption.
It's why he issued an executive order to have every state agency assess "its compliance with water conservation requirements for state facilities," including following the Utah Division of Water Resources' weekly watering guide.
"While we are thankful for the record-breaking snowpack we received this season, we have to keep up the good work of conserving this precious natural resource," he said in a statement. "Maintaining and expanding existing water-saving measures will only increase Utah's ability to grow sustainably."
The U.S. Drought Monitor currently lists 19.3% of the state as being in a moderate drought, while another 43.6% is still "abnormally dry."
The governor's executive order acknowledges that Utah is routinely one of the driest states in the nation and some parts of the state have "experienced drought conditions nearly every year since 2000." It also notes that it's these conditions that explain why "Utah needs to prepare for drought conditions" even in wet years, such as the current water year.
Under the order, the managers of nearly all state facilities — a building or structure owned or controlled by the state — must coordinate with the Utah Division of Facilities Construction and Management and the Utah Division of Water Resources to assess where they are with water conservation requirements outlined in the Utah code.
The code states that agencies are required to have reduced at least 5% of their 2020 fiscal year outdoor water use by the end of the 2023 fiscal year, which is June 30. It adds that agencies must reduce outdoor water consumption by 25% by the end of the 2026 fiscal year.
Cox's order also says that agencies must send all their water use information to the facilities and water agencies and follow the weekly lawn watering guide. The governor also issued a few additional recommendations:
- Utah residents and divisions should delay the start of any irrigation season and end it as early as possible.
- Divisions should also encourage efficient landscape watering, as well as develop drought response and water conservation plans with the Utah Division of Water Resources' help.
- Cities and counties should adopt water efficiency standards for new residential, business and institutional construction, including ways to limit lawns on the grounds of a city government facility.
- Residents should fix any irrigation inefficiencies, install water-efficient appliances, reduce indoor water use and convert nonfunctional grass areas to water-wise landscapes.
Utah's reservoir system reached 63.3% of capacity on Thursday. It's 6 percentage points above the level at the same point last year and only 4.4 percentage points below the median for this point in the season, according to the Utah Division of Water Resources.
The document issued Wednesday notes that water-saving actions over the past two years saved billions of gallons of water and "kept more water in our reservoirs." The system had fallen to 42.3% in November before it began to climb as a result of Utah's record 30-inch statewide snowpack this winter.
There's also plenty of water left to melt into the reservoir system. More than 16 inches of snow water equivalent — about 55% of this year's snowpack peak — remained in Utah's mountains at the end of Thursday, which is still more than the normal over the past 30 years.
