Utah Lake releasing nearly 23 billion gallons of water to Great Salt Lake
Curtis Booker, Daily Herald
Utah Lake looking west from Saratoga Springs is shown in June 2024.The Central Utah Water Conservancy District announced this week that nearly 23 billion gallons of water will be sent from Utah Lake to the Great Salt Lake.
The process began Jan. 29 and involves releasing 500 million gallons of water per day from Utah Lake down the Jordan River.
Central Utah Project Manager Jared Hansen said the primary purpose for the controlled release is for flood control around Utah Lake, which is 96.92% full, according to the Utah Lake Authority.
“The last two years, we’ve had lots of snowpack and we’ve been able to fill reservoirs,” Hansen said. “Utah Lake is approaching full right now. It’s about 3 inches down from full, and that water that’s stored there for central Utah project purposes is stored on what we call a space-available basis. So as soon as Utah Lake is full, our water has to go out because there’s no room for it.”
The district wanted to release the water down the Jordan River in a controlled manner and get water into the Great Salt Lake, Hansen said.
The determination to release the water was made last fall, with the timing being a critical component.
Release it too late, Hansen explained, and it would flow down the Jordan River the same time the snowmelt came in from the Cottonwood Canyons, creating a flood risk along along the river.
“We just wanted to be prudent,” he said. “We wanted to manage that water. If we didn’t do anything, even with this winter being as dry as it is, maybe a month or two from now then that water would be required to be released, and that might happen at the same time snow is melting.”
All the water released will reach the Great Salt Lake, Hansen added, because there are not other water uses occurring on the Jordan River.
The flow will help out the Great Salt Lake, which was measured at a level of 4,193.04 feet at its south arm this month, below the February 2024 mark of 4,193.4 feet, per the state.
Hansen acknowledged it’s been a dry year to this point but said there is still time for more snow.
“We still have March, a very important month for snow accumulation and rain,” he said. “We hope we get back into a little wetter cycle than what we’ve been in.”
Water most recently was released from Utah Lake to prevent flooding in 2024. Prior to last year, the most recent time the lake’s floodgates were opened was in 2011.
