It has been said that cities with water have lots of problems; cities with no water have one problem. A long-term goal of mine is to ensure Provo never has that “one problem.” If there has been a silver lining to Utah’s recent drought, it is that it has reminded us how reliant we are on water — and how precarious our situation could quickly become, if rain and snow do not fall in needed amounts. The drought has focused leaders on the need to prepare for the water needs of future generations, particularly since Utah continues to be the fastest growing state in the nation. Plus, Utah County is the fastest growing county in the state!

Thankfully, Provo starts from a position of strength. Nature and forward-looking Provoans of the past have provided Provo with more abundant water resources than many other cities in the area. Provo has springs, rights to water in the Provo River, and vast aquifers that supply water through wells located in various parts of the city. But even with those advantages, Provo is not immune from water vulnerability.

Like the rest of the state, Provo has seen sharp declines in the water levels of its aquifers. As a refresher, an aquifer is not a large underground cave filled with water. It is an underground layer of porous rock or sediment that can hold water long term.

Aquifers are one of nature’s water-storage wonders. Rain, melted snow, or even irrigation water seeps into earth’s surface and then slowly makes its way down, all the while being naturally filtered. Aquifers require none of the construction or maintenance costs associated with reservoirs and dams. And in aquifers there is no water loss from evaporation (Utah Lake annually loses approximately 380,000 acre feet of water — more than half the volume of its annual inflow — through evaporation). Below the surface of Utah Valley is a sprawling network of aquifers, created naturally over time. They are natural water storage facilities with untapped additional capacity.

The steady drop in Provo’s aquifers, up to 56 feet over the last few decades in some locations, presents both a problem and an opportunity. Rather than continuing to drill our wells farther down, and further depleting our aquifers, Provo plans to recharge them, in a safe, cost-efficient manner, one that could ensure we have decades of additional drinking supply. And here’s one more beautiful thing about this project: it would benefit not only Provo but also surrounding cities and their residents. Aquifers don’t have barriers at city boundary lines. Recharging Provo’s aquifers will, over time, raise the underground water levels in surrounding areas, providing additional water supply to many others in the region.

For these reasons, for the last few years, Provo has been piloting an aquifer recharge program. If you’ve been to the mouth of Rock Canyon recently, you may have noticed a pipe near the trailhead emptying water into an otherwise-dry riverbed. Our pilot program has confirmed that the spot is excellent for aquifer recharge. The water released into the riverbed seeps slowly into the ground, eventually making it down to the aquifer. A series of monitoring wells, including one in Rock Canyon Park, confirm that the water is reaching the aquifer there.

Based on those results, we are now proposing to begin aquifer recharge on a larger scale, one that could benefit future generations in a meaningful way. Thankfully, the state and county are also focused on these sorts of projects. You may know that Gov. Spencer Cox’s proposed budget allocates $520 million to water infrastructure. He and other state leaders want to see Utah prepare for the future, through enhanced water preparedness. Gov. Cox has highlighted aquifer recharge when discussing Utah’s future water needs. Similarly, our Utah County Commissioners have expressed genuine interest in projects like this and a willingness to consider providing funding for them. We applaud these leaders for their willingness to consider generational water projects for the benefit of future residents.

Our proposal requires funding, about $70 million, to build a water treatment plant. This is not because aquifer recharge requires treated water but rather because we need to convey recharge-able water to strategic recharge locations. The ways to do that are to either construct a new series of pipes for recharge or use our existing culinary-water pipes. The costs for either building a treatment plant or installing a new set of pipes are comparable, but a treatment plant requires far less disruption to roads and other property. And a water treatment plant has major additional benefits. Salt Lake Valley currently has at least six major water treatment plants whereas Utah Valley has one. We like the redundancy and disaster resilience that any additional treatment plant will bring. In a disaster, Provo’s new treatment plant (assuming it were functioning, of course) would be able to provide treated water not only to Provo residents but also to others in the region.

Provo’s pillars are Welcoming, Safe and Sound, Economically Vibrant, and Forward-looking. I believe that ensuring Provo has the water it needs in the future, even during a long-term drought, will strengthen each of those pillars. But beyond that, our eyes are on the potential for benefits throughout the state. We want to be a pioneer in this opportunity to more fully use one of nature’s great natural storage systems, aquifers, for future water preparedness statewide.

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