About 70,000 acre-feet of water from Utah Lake is being transferred to the Great Salt Lake via the Jordan River by the Central Utah Water Conservancy District and the Utah Division of Water Rights. The move is part of an effort to help mitigate potential flooding and fulfill legal obligations under longstanding water rights agreements.
The project began in early January and is expected to be completed by April 1.
The water release serves two main purposes: reducing the risk of spring flooding and complying with the Morse Decree, a 1901 agreement that governs how water from Utah Lake is stored and shared among major canal companies. According to the Jordan River Commission Governing Board, this agreement also led to the construction of what was once the largest pumping plant in the United States.
“We had such abundant snowfall and some major flooding in the early 80's, and the litigation sparked up again between Utah County and Salt Lake County and eventually, through that litigation, there was a negotiated settlement, and they established a kind of a compromise level on Utah Lake,” Blake Bingham, deputy state engineer at the Utah Division of Water Rights, said.
This refers to the 1985 Utah lake and Jordan River Operating Procedures and Flood Management Plan, which established a new compromise elevation of 4,489.045 feet above sea level. If the lake exceeds that level due to mountain snowmelt, the state engineer is required to open the floodgates and send water down the Jordan River to prevent flooding.
Snowmelt flowing into the Jordan River has caused Utah Lake to rise significantly, Jared Hansen, project manager for the Central Utah Water Conservancy District, said.
“Utah Lake is really close to being within a couple inches of being full, and so just as the lake fills, we should have that surplus water gone,” Hansen said. "We'd say everything's worked out like we planned."
The Utah Division of Water and Central Utah Water Conservancy District collaborated on the project earlier this year, Hansen said.
“We made the determination early this year that we wanted to go ahead and move some of that water and get it to the Great Salt Lake,” Hansen said. "This time of year, is the most efficient time to do that, and it gets the maximum amount of water into the lake."
This timing worked out well because Utah didn’t receive as much snow as last year. That allowed agencies to transfer surplus water from last season while keeping enough reservoir space for this year’s runoff.
Jordan Clayton, data collection officer and supervisor of Utah Snow Survey talked about the importance of snow melting and water collection for Utah's reservoirs.
“Outside of flooding concerns, (snowmelt) is a good way for us to get our water into our reservoirs because then (the water) all comes rushing down at once,” Clayton said.
As Utah enters spring, the project to mitigate flooding continues, making this the third time in 10 years Utah Lake has opened its flood gates.