Utah
Utah reservoirs are socking away the water to store for next year
Statewide reservoir storage across Utah remains at an average of 77% capacity, an overall 6% decline from last month.
Overall, however, the major river basins look to be in good shape and have weathered the searing summer heat by maintaining decent capacity as the summer comes to a close.
The latest report issued this month by the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service said the Provo-Utah Lake-Jordan basin dropped in capacity by 13%; Weber-Ogden was down by 22%; Bear dipped by 11% and southwest Utah suffered a loss of 12%. Those values changed from July 1 to Sept. 1.
The struggles of central and southern Utah
Other regions in Utah did not fare so well, with water levels that have been depleted at a much faster rate.
San Pitch took the biggest sucker punch, dropping by 62%; both Tooele-Vernon Creek and Beaver took hits of 44% and Upper Sevier lost capacity of 31%.
“While Utah’s reservoirs are generally in good shape, we continue to encourage water managers to conserve water where possible to prepare for the possibility of a return to drought conditions in future years,” the report noted.
Across Utah, even this late in the water year, some of the basins are doing well with their performance of the median of precipitation. Eight basins that include the Weber-Ogden and the Provo-Utah Lake-Jordan — major water suppliers for the Wasatch Front — remain above average.
The miracle of monsoon season
Each summer, Utah’s thirsty landscapes and water managers around the state have hope etched in the skies that clouds and the attendant storms will deliver relief-giving moisture. This summer did not disappoint, the report noted.
“While Utah’s mountains typically get some decent precipitation during the month of August due to the seasonal monsoon, this year’s August was better than average. Utah received 2.7 inches of new precipitation during the month, which is 178% of normal,” the analysis said. “This brings our statewide water year to date precipitation to 105% of normal, up 2% from last month. Utah’s mountain soil moisture levels responded nicely to the monsoonal moisture — though it should be noted that soils have been quickly drying since most of that precipitation fell in the middle to late portion of August.”
Saving water for those not so rainy days
Despite the amount of water in many of the state’s reservoirs, it is not time to let the water flow unhindered. As the nights get cooler and growing season winds down, irrigation systems are also preparing to shut off the valves for the coming fall and winter.
Weber Basin Water Conservancy District, which operates the largest secondary water system in the West serving more than 18,000 connections, will end its irrigation season Oct. 15.
Most districts use that date as the cut-off for delivery of secondary water, but the Utah Division of Water Resources says just because the water is there, does not mean it needs to be used.
The division has a weekly lawn watering guide and for this week, most areas are down to two weekly outdoor water applications or three at the most. Conditions change from week to week.
SALT LAKE CITY — A California man in Utah, as part of his duties with the National Guard, is accused of trying to solicit sex from a young teenager.
Joshua Ruben Rodriguez, 29, of Fresno, was charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court with attempted rape of a child, a first-degree felony, and enticement of a minor, a second-degree felony.
The investigation began when an agent with the Utah State Bureau of Investigation posed as a 13-year-old girl on a “popular social media site … in an attempt to locate and apprehend adults attempting to have sexual contact with children,” according to charging documents.
On April 16, Rodriguez sent the agent a message — believing he was talking to a teen girl — that stated, “I’ll be direct with you, I would like to get to know you and (have sex with) your mind into a daze to where you feel like a woman,” according to charging documents.
When the “girl” asked if he had a problem with her age, Rodriguez replied, “I don’t have a problem with your age,” the charges state.
The agent told Rodriguez to meet at an apartment complex in Salt Lake County where the girl lived, claiming her mother would be gone. When Rodriguez arrived, he was taken into custody, the charges state.
“(Rodriguez) does not have ties to Utah. He is a resident of Fresno, California. (He) was in town as part of his military service with the California National Guard,” prosecutors stated in charging documents while requesting he be held without bail pending trial.
ST. GEORGE, Utah (KUTV) — One person was hospitalized at the St. George Regional Hospital after a car rolled and caught fire just south of the Utah-Arizona border.
The Beaver Dam and Littlefield Fire Department in Arizona said its crews responded to the crash near the Black Rock Road exit – roughly two miles south of the state border – on Sunday night.
Upon arrival, crews put out the car fire and found the driver had left the scene. A single occupant, who was able to get out of the car on their own, was transported to the hospital by a Beaver Dam ambulance.
MORE | Crashes
Their condition has not been publicly released.
Details on what led to the crash and the condition of the driver were not immediately available.
The Beaver Dam and Littlefield Fire Department said law enforcement investigated the scene.
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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz missed out on the NBA Playoffs, but still scored a big win thanks to a coin flip.
In Monday’s tiebreaker coin flip to determine who had the fourth-worst record in the league last season, the Jazz came out winners over the Sacramento Kings, who had the same 22-60 record.
Had the Jazz lost the coin flip, they would have been fifth in NBA Draft Lottery odds. Only the worst four teams are guaranteed to remain within the top eight of the lottery.
If Utah had fallen to fifth, there would have been the chance they could have dropped out of the top 8 teams in the lottery, and owed the draft pick to Oklahoma City, which was top-8 protected in a previous trade.
The Jazz now have an 11.5 percent chance to win the first overall pick in the NBA Draft Lottery, which is scheduled for Sunday, May 10.
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