- Beaver enforces new outdoor water regulations due to low water supply.
- Outdoor watering is restricted to evenings and mornings, limited to one to two times weekly.
- Beaver River's flow is less than half of last year's amid severe drought concerns.
BEAVER — A southern Utah city is implementing new outdoor water regulations over an "extremely short water supply" from its irrigation source.
Beaver officials announced Tuesday that it is implementing the city's water conservation plan through October, which is typically toward the end of the normal irrigation season.
The order bans all outdoor watering during the heat of the day, limiting it to times between 6 p.m. and 10 a.m., while reducing outdoor watering to one to two times per week and not watering during windy conditions. It also recommends that residents let lawns and pastures go yellow, minimize or remove gardens, reduce sprinkling times, repair leaks or other water issues or consider implementing water-wise landscaping.
"First and foremost: This is your outdoor watering irrigation system; be good stewards of the system and water use," city officials wrote in the plan.
The order was issued in response to "extreme low flows" of the Beaver River that factor in the water supply.
River flows near the city are currently less than half of what they were this time last year and consistent with flows at the end of the irrigation season, per U.S. Geological Survey data. It follows a below-normal snowpack collection within the river's basin, which ended up 88% of normal this winter before an inefficient spring snowmelt lowered water totals from what was collected.
Nearby Minersville Reservoir, which receives its water from the river, is only about 30% full after only reaching as high as 66% capacity this spring, per the Utah Division of Water Resources. About one-third of the county is now in severe drought, while the rest is in moderate drought, the U.S. Drought Monitor reports.
Beaver was also one of 17 counties included in Gov. Spencer Cox's drought emergency that he declared earlier this year. Although it was never extended by the Utah Legislature, the order called on residents within impacted communities to take steps to reduce water consumption this year.
Other communities have also called on residents to cut back on water consumption because of this year's conditions. Washington County commissioners asked residents to reduce consumption and pray for precipitation when its snowpack collection fell to record lows.
Cox has also called for the same in recent weeks, as drought has returned to all of Utah this summer.
"Utah is facing a tough season, and we need both divine help and practical action," the governor said last month.
