Wasatch Front cities running out of water called a ‘myth’

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — In the middle of Utah’s drought, an environmental group is calling out what it labeled “hysteria” over water supplies for Wasatch Front cities.

“We’ve heard for 50 years that Utah is about to run out of water for its cities,” said Zach Frankel, director of the Utah Rivers Council. “And it’s a myth.”

Frankel, a frequent presence on Utah’s Capitol Hill, said cities — including the people who live in them — account for only a sliver of Utah’s total water use.

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He said that water rates are so low we have “the most wasteful water users in the country” and that outdoor watering could be dramatically curtailed with little to no impact.

Claims of running out of water, Frankel said, are aimed at pushing pricey, publicly funded water construction projects.

Ogden is embarking on a $100 million replacement of a 100-year-old pipeline through Ogden Canyon aimed at “improving reliability, reducing water loss, and supporting long-term water security.”

The Weber Basin Waster Conservancy District is not driving or financing the construction, but is involved with it, and the general manager called the Utah Rivers Council position “hogwash.”

“We’re not doing projects … just to spend hundreds of millions of dollars,” said GM Scott Paxman. “We are running out of water.”

Paxman said 20,000 more homes are already approved and/or permitted within the district boundaries, and even more permits are likely in Ogden Valley, Summit and Morgan Counties.

Laura Briefer, director of the Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities, said the city rates have gone up, and are “encouraging conservation.”

Frankel said conservation efforts can go further, even as more and more water is diverted in northern Utah from agriculture to growing communities — water that will not end up in a near-record-low Great Salt Lake.

“If you went to the gas station and saw someone pouring gasoline on the sidewalk while simultaneously simply telling us, ‘We’re running out of gas,’ it would be, ‘What are you talking about?’” Frankel said. “Put the nozzle back.”

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