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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's most recent drought, which reached Salt Lake City in 2020, forced the city to implement the second phase of its water shortage plan in 2021 and 2022 as the situation worsened across Utah and the West.
It was the first time Salt Lake City had to implement this phase in nearly two decades.
While Salt Lake County exited any drought-related status eight months ago, and its water supply remains in a much better place, Western water managers know that droughts can emerge at any time and there are few ways of knowing how severe drought conditions will become, or how long it will last.
That's why many water managers and users across the state and region are looking at ways to be more efficient with their water. To that end, Salt Lake City Public Utilities is finishing up a draft of a revised watershed management plan expected to improve water quality and supply for the city and the other Salt Lake County communities across the city's service area.
The document is slated to be released later this year for public comment before a final version may be implemented, Salt Lake City Public Utilities director Laura Briefer told KSL.com.
It follows a separate effort to review and improve water consumption practices within Salt Lake facilities. This second effort may spark new conservation tactics that reduce water consumption and get more water to the struggling Great Salt Lake.
"I think water, in general ... is going to be at the top of our list of engagement efforts over the next several months," she said.
Identifying big Salt Lake water users
While preliminary details of the watershed management plan are being hammered out, Salt Lake Public Utilities released an audit of water consumption within Salt Lake facilities earlier this month.
The report found — to no surprise — that city-owned recreation properties are the biggest annual outdoor water consumers. Annual outdoor water consumption to city properties fluctuated between 2018 and 2022, but it surpassed 1 billion gallons in 2020 before dropping back closer to 800 million gallons in 2022.
No other outdoor water user category exceeded 200 million gallons at any point over the five-year review period.
City-owned facilities are the biggest indoor water consumers, although to a far lesser extent. The report notes that indoor use within facilities exceeded 18 million gallons in 2022, much higher than any other category.
The report found that the city's Water Reclamation Facility, which consumed nearly 12.9 million gallons of water annually between 2018 to 2022 averages, led all buildings in indoor use. Its usage over those years was nearly double the second-highest consumer, the city's fleet management center, which averaged almost 6.5 million gallons
Salt Lake's Main Library (2.9 million gallons), Fire Station No. 14 (1.8 million gallons) and Glendale Youth Center (1.7 million gallons) rounded out the top five indoor water users. Combined, all five facilities also averaged about 10.5 million gallons for outdoor use.
Auditors also uncovered an overflow pipe leak at the Public Safety Building that was measured as losing 1.875 gallons per minute, which could cost nearly 1 million gallons of water annually at that rate.
Implementing new water practices
The report noted a few steps the city would take to improve water efficiencies, such as fixing leaks and replacing old valves and faucets.
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said changes just within the city's 20-largest water consumers would save at least 5 million gallons of water every year moving forward, during her State of the City address that was held a few days before the audit was released.
She added that the city is "identifying and prioritizing" both landscape conversions and alternative grasses that need less water to function to cut down on outdoor water use. The city is also working with Utah State University on a study of low-water grasses at city golf courses.
It's a long-term effort and we really want effective conservation to stick.
–Laura Briefer, Salt Lake City Public Utilities
Although the audit aimed to offer insight into the city's water demands and inefficiencies and suggestions on how the city can be more efficient with its water, the steps the city takes to be more efficient may trickle down to its many smaller users.
Briefer says she hopes the audit sets an example that inspires residents, businesses and institutions within the city's system to also take "major steps in conservation" this year, and beyond, even if the city's water situation is less dire than it was this time two years ago.
She notes that the Great Salt Lake, which remains almost 5 to 8 feet below its minimum healthy level and 7 to 10 feet below its historic average, is a prime example of a hydrologic drought that remains in the region. That's on top of underground reservoir impacts that state researchers are still studying.
These impacts are expected to serve as the "north star" of Salt Lake City's conservation messages this year, Briefer said.
She adds that the city's audit method can also serve as a template for other water districts, or the state as a whole, which may identify other major water inefficiencies.
"It's a long-term effort, and we really want effective conservation to stick," Briefer said. "We will be continuing and amplifying the same messages that we have (since the drought began), in terms of conservation."
