SALT LAKE CITY (March 15, 2023) — To benefit Great Salt Lake, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has agreed to donate over 5,700 water shares in the North Point Consolidated Irrigation Company to the state of Utah. The donation, believed to be the largest ever permanent donation to benefit Great Salt Lake, ensures water will continue to flow to the lake and preserve critical shoreline and wetland habitat in Farmington Bay.
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SALT LAKE CITY (March 8, 2022) – In the past two years, lawmakers have allocated nearly a billion dollars for water conservation efforts and development, further mitigating Utah’s ongoing water issues and planning for future growth. During the 2023 General Session, the Legislature funded over $500 million for water conversation, development and infrastructure.
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The Division of Water Resources is pleased to support the Utah Growing Water Smart Program in conjunction with Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy, a Center of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Western Resource Advocates, and Utah State University’s Center for Water-Efficient Landscaping. Learn more about the June workshop by visiting Growing Water Smart.
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SALT LAKE CITY (Feb. 21, 2022) – Utah’s snowpack is currently above the April peak. More snowstorms, such as the one forecasted this week, are needed to keep our snowpack above average. Many reservoirs are expected to fill, while larger water bodies will take multiple years of above-average snowpack to fill. Cold temperatures and an effective melt are needed to begin refilling reservoirs.
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Analysis includes a data repository, research, and policy options that will help return the lake to healthy levels
February 8, 2023 (Salt Lake City) – Declining water levels of Great Salt Lake threaten economic activity, local public health, and ecosystems. In response to this emergent statewide challenge, Utah’s public research universities formed the Great Salt Lake Strike Team, a collaboration of experts in public policy, hydrology, water management, climatology, and dust. Today they released a Great Salt Lake Policy Assessment that affirms the situation is urgent, but also identifies a variety of policy levers that can return the lake to healthy levels.
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Six states reach consensus on criteria for environmental review to help protect lakes Powell and Mead
January 30, 2023 – Today, states sharing the Colorado River submitted a letter to the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) that outlines a Consensus-Based Modeling Alternative for Reclamation to evaluate and incorporate into its development of a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) to revise current Operating Guidelines (’07 Guidelines) for Glen Canyon Dam at Lake Powell and Hoover Dam at Lake Mead.
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The funds will be distributed through the Board of Water Resources in an effort to increase water conservation statewide
SALT LAKE CITY (Nov. 30, 2022) – After two initial two rounds of funding, the Utah Division of Water Resources is opening up a third round of applications for the purchase and installation of secondary meters. Through the first two rounds, the Board of Water Resources authorized over $190 million towards this effort. Systems that have installed secondary meters have seen a 20-30% reduction in water use simply by informing customers how much water they use. These grant funds are for secondary water providers, not residents.
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SALT LAKE CITY (Nov. 3, 2022) — With Utah’s Great Salt Lake reaching new record lows, Gov. Spencer Cox has issued a proclamation suspending new water appropriations within the Great Salt Lake Basin, including the Bear, Weber, and Jordan River basins and the body of the Great Salt Lake.
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Happy 75th anniversary to us!
💦 Seventy-five years
💦 1,530 projects
💦 $988M in Board Funding
From dam development and upgrades, to water data collection and planning, and hundreds of critical projects in between, we’ve worked hard to protect Utah’s water. Now more than ever, we’re committed to collaboration with the water community to address the challenges ahead of us. We celebrate these many accomplishments, but we also celebrate you, Utahns, for your efforts to conserve and your continued support!
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SALT LAKE CITY (Oct. 21, 2022) – As fall temperatures settle in, the Weekly Lawn Watering Guide is now recommending most of the state shut off irrigation systems until next spring when irrigation season begins again. The only exception is Washington County, the division expects to recommend zero irrigations statewide in the next few weeks as temperatures continue to drop.
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