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SOUTH JORDAN — Residents living along the Jordan River are on flood watch as the river and the groundwater are rising, creating cause for concern.
"You can see the water doesn't need to come up much more to be in our basement," Chris Shelton told KSL-TV as he showed the water being pumped out of his well along the side of his house.
The Sheltons live in a fairly new neighborhood along the river bank in South Jordan. All of the homes in the area have been built with drainage systems and have sump pumps to release the groundwater. However, Shelton said no one in the area has seen the groundwater rise this high.
"The No. 1 thing we have is a sump pump running 24 hours," he said, "pumping a lot of water out of the foundation of the home. Number two, we have water alarms in our basement to alert us if water comes in and we can start to move things. Anxious. I'm a little bit anxious."
On Feb. 8, flood gates were opened at a full Utah Lake to prepare for spring runoff and sending water to the Great Salt Lake. According to Wade Tuft, the water supply manager with the Jordan Valley Conservancy District, the Jordan River went from nearly 26 million gallons of water a day to now about 517 million gallons a day.
He told KSL the gates are fully open and it will all depend on Mother Nature as to how much more the river rises with spring runoff.
"It's probably the highest I've seen the Jordan River," said Rachael Van Cleave the spokeswoman for South Jordan City. "Groundwater levels are rising, and we are keeping an eye on it. If gets to the point of it turning into surface water or starts to impact our roads or right-of-ways, we will definitely start providing sandbags for people to protect their property."
Residents can only hope they can keep up with the groundwater flow.
"I think we are just ready to move furniture and make the best of the situation if it does arise," Shelton said.
