November 2019 Newsletter

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

By Gene Shawcroft

Dear Friends,
One of the first things we learn in the water world is there is no such thing as a “normal” year. With a near record-breaking wet spring, the summer has been very disappointing. The wet spring and storage have been great
blessings this year. Yet most of the good folks that receive our water give little thought to this variability and the effort, resources and facilities it takes to deliver water on a continuous predictable manner. We do a lot with a little and yet make such a difference to our state, both in quality of life and economic opportunity by providing this essential resource. Water comes out of the tap or out of the ditch and that is pretty much the end of their thought of water.

However, over the summer it seems there is more interest in water than in past years. I want to share some of the items that will be of interest to all of us. Many of these items or processes have been ongoing but many are moving quickly or nearing completion. All these items will impact the water users of the state and I encourage you to understand their impact directly to your individual situation. Among these (please don’t think this is a complete list) include Colorado River issues of Drought Contingency Planning and the associated Demand Management, state issues including the Regional Water Conservation Goals report, proposed State Water Policy, Methodology for future state funding of water projects, price elasticity study, proposed water banking legislation, proposed secondary water metering legislation along with several other proposed bills that impact water. There is no question in my mind there are very sharp, well-meaning individuals working to make water use more efficient and stretch our finite water supply as far as possible, which we all support. That said, no one understands better the impacts these items may have than those of you who have many years of experience in the water business. I encourage you to learn about these items, their potential impacts and most importantly let your voices be heard as you see ways to improve these processes as they move forward.

For the most part, water users are so busy taking care of business that it can be difficult to stay up to speed on many of these items. Because of their significance we need to take the time to understand their potential impacts. Meetings like the Utah Water Summit and the Utah Water Users Workshop are great ways to learn of the issues that we should track.

Feel free to reach out to a member of the board, Carly or me about the concerns you have so we can be better prepared to understand and address those concerns.

As always, thanks so much for all you do, and may the snow gods flake frequently and abundantly upon our state this winter. Two wet years in a row won’t make up for the drought cycle, but it would sure be nice to have another wet year!

WATER OUTLOOK

By Jordan Clayton

The 2019 water year (WY) ended on September 30th. Despite the relatively dry summer, it was a good year! Here are a few highlights: The statewide average precipitation ended at 39.1”, which is roughly 122% of normal. The Beaver and Lower Sevier Watersheds fared the best, at 141% and 139% normal precipitation, respectively. The single best SNOTEL site in terms of percent normal precipitation was Long Flat (Southwest Utah) at 146% of normal. In terms of the most overall precipitation, the Ben Lomond Peak SNOTEL site (northern Wasatch Front) fared the best at 76.4”.

Last winter’s snowpack was fantastic! As of April 1st, the date of the typical peak snowpack, snowpack in Utah was above normal at 140% compared to 64% the previous year. Southern Utah watersheds fared the best in terms of percent normal snowpack. For example, Southeastern Utah was >200% normal, Southwestern Utah was at 190%, and the Upper Sevier was at roughly 160% normal snow water equivalent (SWE). All major watersheds in the state were above 100% SWE on April 1st! The excellent snowpack led to outstanding forecast streamflow volumes; every forecast point in Utah was predicted to have >100% runoff, with a few streams forecast to deliver more than 200% normal flow (233% for the Mill Ck at Sheley Tunnel nr Moab, 242% for the Sevier River nr Gunnison, and 293% for South Creek abv Reservoir nr Monticello).

Soil moisture levels ended the water year at roughly normal or slightly above normal conditions in northern and central Utah, and drier than normal in the southern half of the state. Particularly dry are several basins in Southeastern Utah, such as the Escalante basin at 57% normal. This area has recently been classified as being under D1 level drought based on the last 120 days precipitation, evaporative demand, and soil moisture levels.

WEATHER UPDATE
National Weather Service

By Brian McInerney

St. George just finished the 2019 water year with the second wettest on record. However, things currently are a bit weird. As of today, Thursday, October 15th, they haven’t recorded any measurable precipitation in the past 130 days. How does that happen? How can one area almost break a wet record, only to follow with massive dryness? It’s all in the details of the global pattern.

When we look at the pattern last winter, what we saw was a constant flow moving through our area bringing all sorts of storms to Utah. This pattern started in October, and continued through May. A full 8 months of storminess with a cold wet melt pattern in the spring. This recharged our reservoir stores, groundwater, and helped out soil moisture in a fine way. That’s the good part. During a bigger monsoon summer pattern, a high pressure system parks over the 4 corners area pulling monsoonal moisture to Southern Utah. That didn’t happen this year. The High set up east of the four corners due to the continued active pattern shunting the monsoonal moisture to the plains. As such, St. George and surrounding areas were quite dry.

The dry Southern Utah weather should break out sometime soon as we shift from a summer monsoonal pattern to our winter pattern. It’s in our favor that the flow remains active, but we need the Jet and all it’s storminess to slide a bit south to help us.

MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR’S CORNER
By Carly Burton

Utah Water Summit Conference

I am very happy to report that the Utah Water Summit Conference held on October 29, 2019 was again a great success. We set another record for attendance with 312 who attended. This beats last year’s record by 60 people. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the speakers, the co-sponsors and the registrants for making this event such a great success. I am especially grateful for our legislators who participated including Senators David Hinkins, Ralph Okurlund, Jake Anderegg and Jani Iwamoto
for their valuable insights on the legislative process as it relates to important state water issues. Next year’s event is scheduled for October 20, 2020. We will again look forward to seeing you there.

Utah Water Users Workshop – 2020

We are currently in the process of planning the Utah Water Users Workshop which is scheduled for March 16-18, 2020 in St. George. Our planning committee has been very busy lining up topics and speakers. To date we already have 55 topics confirmed so we should have another great program. The first brochure will be mailed out in early December and we will post it on our website. We look forward to seeing you there.

NWRA Report on Issues in Congress
Gunnison Sage Grouse

The Fish and Wildlife Service has completed a draft recovery plan for the threatened Gunnison Sage Grouse which is a smaller cousin of the greater sage grouse found throughout the west. The Gunnison Sage Grouse has populations in southwestern Colorado and southeastern Utah and has not garnered much attention and avoided ESA listing in 2015 based on the strength of federal conservation plans that the Trump administration revised but was recently blocked by a federal judge. The plan relies heavily on capturing and relocating birds to augment struggling populations, drawing fire from environmental groups that had agreed to suspended a federal lawsuit while the plan was developed.

The draft recovery plan published in the November 1 Federal Register also states that the Gunnison Grouse can be removed from the Endangered Species Act list of threatened species when the population in the Gunnison Basin in Colorado reaches 3,669 birds for at least seven out of nine consecutive years.

Still, when the Fish & Wildlife Service listed this grouse as threatened under the ESA, elected officials, including Colorado Senator Michael Bennet (D), sharply critized the decision. The states of Colorado and Utah filed separate lawsuits challenging the threatened listing decision.

A federal judge last year ruled that FWS had complied with federal laws and upheld the threatened listing, as well as FWS’s decision to establish 1.4 million acres of designated critical habitat for the grouse. Needless to say, there will be numerous court hearings and debates in the months ahead. We will keep you posted on this important issue.

Utah’s Regional Water Conservation Goals

Water conservation has been a topic of discussion and debate for many years. Water managers and state officials all agree that it is an important part of the equation to meet future water needs of a population that is expected to double by 2060. After a 2015 legislative audit recommended tailoring water conservation goals by region, the Division of Water Resources started gathering public input to formulate new goals. Over 1,650 people shared their opinions on a water conservation survey. Open houses were held in eight different regions across the state. After public input was tallied, a team consisting of water providers, members from the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget, and Division of Water Resources staff worked for many months with a third-party consultant to provide input on region-specific M&I water conservation goals. These goals will help guide the state’s water industry in planning future infrastructure, policies, and programs consistent with Utah’s semiarid climate and growing demand for water.

The plan outlines 9 separate geographical areas which have weather patterns, topography, M&I water use and other physical characteristics that define the area to be studied and evaluated. This plan is a very positive change in the water conservation debate because, for example, it is not prudent to characterize Washington County the same as Cache County for many obvious reasons.

This plan will update and quantify municipal and industrial water use for every community and will identify issues such as water reuse and how reuse fits into the equation. We will keep a close eye on the process and we will provide updates as they occur.