Record Snow pack, floods next?

[Houndoc]

Couple of streets in Grantsville already being used for water diverted out of a couple smaller canyons west of town.
Same ones used as 'rivers' in 1983, so far more gentle streams.

 

[Hickey]

Couple of streets in Grantsville already being used for water diverted out of a couple smaller canyons west of town.
Same ones used as 'rivers' in 1983, so far more gentle streams.

This ditch is specifically one of them. It’s sandbagged to contain the additional flow, but it’s contained decently right now.

 

[Houndoc]

View attachment 159453
This ditch is specifically one of them. It’s sandbagged to contain the additional flow, but it’s contained decently right now.

Is also continuing east on Clark and then being diverted north on Cooley.

 

[STAG]

 

[Unimog]

That is a LOT of water!

 

[rholbrook]

Private marina at Antelope Point is open again. I hope the public marina opens too. I hated waiting up to two hours

 

[Greg]

View attachment 159641

The Colorado is running high and fast, there's a LOT of water heading towards Powell right now.

 

[UNSTUCK]

Crazy to think that one really wet winter will come close to undoing 20 years of drought. Just in time no less.

 

[Kevin B.]

I don't know about undo, but it definitely helps.

I expect that we're going to drop right back into drought conditions by next year.

 

[DAA]

Yeah, long, long way from undo. The reservoirs are just a tiny part of it that I personally don't really even care about. The habitat and the wildlife will need a run of consecutive good years to start to come back. Some of the habitat that burnt up and then didn't get a chance to grow for the following years isn't ever coming back, ever.

And, for all we know, we could be back into drought conditions by August. This has just been one heavy winter. Not even a whole year yet.

- DAA

 

[Stephen]

Yeah, long, long way from undo. The reservoirs are just a tiny part of it that I personally don't really even care about. The habitat and the wildlife will need a run of consecutive good years to start to come back. Some of the habitat that burnt up and then didn't get a chance to grow for the following years isn't ever coming back, ever.

And, for all we know, we could be back into drought conditions by August. This has just been one heavy winter. Not even a whole year yet.

- DAA

Agreed. Most hydrologists say we needed about five consecutive years of above average winters and springs to get the regions ground water, soil, lakes, and reservoirs back to normal. And then several more years of average snowpack and spring rainfall to really get us out of the danger zone. Couple that with changed habits from water users, and then we'll really be out of the drought years. This was a good start, but we've got a long way to go. Hopefully it happens though!

 

[UNSTUCK]

Sorry, I should have clarified I was talking about Powell. Looks like this runoff will for easily make up for the last ten years of loss and will likely put it higher than it was 20 years ago depending on what they do with outflows and mead.
The west is a desert. People keep talking like it’s supposed to be something else.

 

[Stephen]

Sorry, I should have clarified I was talking about Powell. Looks like this runoff will for easily make up for the last ten years of loss and will likely put it higher than it was 20 years ago depending on what they do with outflows and mead.
The west is a desert. People keep talking like it’s supposed to be something else.

Last I heard, Reclamation is predicting a ~70ft elevation increase at Powell, or to 3600ft; which is about where it was in 2003. Thats still down about 100ft from full pool, ~3700ft. Which is great and will avoid the lake reaching "dead pool", which was feared for this year before our epic winter. There is still a lot of negotiations that have to happen with the Lower Basin states (particularly California), but the plan is already to reduce outflows to avoid reaching dead pool and continue to protect the ability to produce power at Glen Canyon Dam for as long as possible.

Here's some great graphs that shows the historic levels at Lake Powell:
Lake Powell Water Levels

 

[glockman]

Couple that with changed habits from water users, and then we'll really be out of the drought years.

I have asked this question in lots of settings and I never get an answer. What exactly happens to the water we use on the Wasatch Front? If I spray water on my grass what happens to it? My assumption is, it cools the immediate area, some of it soaks in and eventually ends up in underground aquifers, a good portion of it evaporates. It seems that people assume the portion that evaporates leaves the earth's atmosphere and is gone for good. I would assume it goes up into the lower atmosphere and returns as rain on the mountains to the east, where it then runs back down to the SL and UT valleys.
I may be 100% incorrect and my memory of earth science from Jr. High could be completely wrong. However no one has yet countered my theory and explained to me why watering my lawn or washing my car is so bad for the water situation in our specific geographic region. They just know it's awful and that we need to stop doing it because DRAUGHT!

 

[Stephen]

I have asked this question in lots of settings and I never get an answer. What exactly happens to the water we use on the Wasatch Front? If I spray water on my grass what happens to it? My assumption is, it cools the immediate area, some of it soaks in and eventually ends up in underground aquifers, a good portion of it evaporates. It seems that people assume the portion that evaporates leaves the earth's atmosphere and is gone for good. I would assume it goes up into the lower atmosphere and returns as rain on the mountains to the east, where it then runs back down to the SL and UT valleys.
I may be 100% incorrect and my memory of earth science from Jr. High could be completely wrong. However no one has yet countered my theory and explained to me why watering my lawn or washing my car is so bad for the water situation in our specific geographic region. They just know it's awful and that we need to stop doing it because DRAUGHT!

I'm not a hydrologist by a long shot, have just always been fascinated by water infrastructure (dams in particular).

Your hypothesis is technically correct. I'd add is that all the water that evaporates into the atmosphere doesn't make it back into our water cycle. Depending on conditions, that water could end up on the other side of the planet. And, plants and animals consume water, but they don't expel 100% of that they consume. Also, soil retains water, if it didn't we'd all be living the the Sahara. So if you put a gallon of water on your lawn, maybe 20% of that makes it back into an aquafer (totally made up numbers). Multiply this by millions of people watering their lawns and washing their cars and you're "losing" a lot of water out of the system that is designed to provide for the population. So thats why in a region like ours that has unpredictable at best rain and snow to refill our storage capacity, it's best to limit your usage where you can. I water my lawn and wash my car, I just try to use as little water as I can get away with to do it.

And yes, yes, the bulk of water used in Utah is for agriculture and they need to change utilization techniques as well.

 

[glockman]

I'm not a hydrologist by a long shot, have just always been fascinated by water infrastructure (dams in particular).

Your hypothesis is technically correct. I'd add is that all the water that evaporates into the atmosphere doesn't make it back into our water cycle. Depending on conditions, that water could end up on the other side of the planet. And, plants and animals consume water, but they don't expel 100% of that they consume. Also, soil retains water, if it didn't we'd all be living the the Sahara. So if you put a gallon of water on your lawn, maybe 20% of that makes it back into an aquafer (totally made up numbers). Multiply this by millions of people watering their lawns and washing their cars and you're "losing" a lot of water out of the system that is designed to provide for the population. So thats why in a region like ours that has unpredictable at best rain and snow to refill our storage capacity, it's best to limit your usage where you can. I water my lawn and wash my car, I just try to use as little water as I can get away with to do it.

And yes, yes, the bulk of water used in Utah is for agriculture and they need to change utilization techniques as well.

I wash my car on my lawn to double dip😁😁.

 

[The_Lobbster]

I’m surprised there hasn’t been any cracking down on new car washes. Seems like there’s a new quick quack, wiggy wash, or similar opening up every other week in the Utah valley lately.

I get that there is a crap ton of people here and cars, but when there’s a desperation of saving water, why isn’t that limited at all?

I’m genuinely curious if there’s a reason behind it, or if I’m just ignorant?

 

[jeeper]

I wash my car on my lawn to double dip😁😁.

I wash mine on the driveway to help wash away all the mud that got left from the previous wash

 

[Stephen]

I’m surprised there hasn’t been any cracking down on new car washes. Seems like there’s a new quick quack, wiggy wash, or similar opening up every other week in the Utah valley lately.

I get that there is a crap ton of people here and cars, but when there’s a desperation of saving water, why isn’t that limited at all?

I’m genuinely curious if there’s a reason behind it, or if I’m just ignorant?

Same reason every free square inch of the Wasatch Front has a high density housing complex going up on it: developers run the state and all they care about is short term gain.

 

[jeeper]

I’m surprised there hasn’t been any cracking down on new car washes. Seems like there’s a new quick quack, wiggy wash, or similar opening up every other week in the Utah valley lately.

I get that there is a crap ton of people here and cars, but when there’s a desperation of saving water, why isn’t that limited at all?

I’m genuinely curious if there’s a reason behind it, or if I’m just ignorant?

Quick quack claims 15 gallons per car at their wash vs up to 100 per driveway washer.

I am very confident that I use waaaaaaaaaaaay more water on a driveway wash than when I go through the bay. Especially because I then wash the driveway, trailer, fence, house, and anything else I look at.