‘Save it for a dry day’: Despite wet winter, Utah governor says water conservation still needed

ST. GEORGE — Even with record snowpack and rising rivers across the state, including in Southern Utah, the governor said Thursday there is still much to worry about as far as Utah’s water future.

In a video screenshot, Gov. Spencer Cox is seen during a taping of the PBS Utah “Governor’s Monthly News Conference” program, Salt Lake City, Utah, May 18, 2023 | Photo via video courtesy of PBS Utah, St. George News

During the monthly taping of the PBS Utah Governor’s Press Conference program in Salt Lake City, Gov. Spencer Cox responded to a question from St. George News remotely about whether one season of plentiful rain can make up for decades of drought.

“Technically, we are still in drought although we’re not in extreme drought anymore. One year does not solve a 20-year drought,” Cox said. “There are wise scriptures that talk about saving for a rainy day and making sure that we’re not expending everything we have in the moment. It’s just smart for us to use less water and save it for a dry day.”

To underscore that point, the governor issued an executive order last week requiring state offices to conserve more water. 

The current state of Utah’s reservoirs is a far cry from where it was a year ago when Cox issued a drought state of emergency. While the Upper Enterprise Reservoir was 17% full last May, it is now at 90% capacity according to the Utah Division of Water Resources. 

Graphic shows reservoir levels in Utah as of May 18, 2023 | Photo by Utah Department of Natural Resources, St. George News | Click to enlarge

Lake Powell, long a symbol of the drought with its “bathtub ring,” is 16 feet higher than it was a year ago, according to U.S. Bureau of Reclamation data. In 2022, the reservoir was approaching the point it was too low to supply power to Glen Canyon Dam, but in the next few days water managers say it will be at above-average levels. 

“I was able to be in Moab and to run along the Colorado River and to see it filled to the brim — to the top of the banks was something that just made my heart sing,” Cox said, though he noted Lake Powell, which is still below 27% capacity, according to officials, is “not going to fill this year.”

Cox said there is no predicting whether next year will continue to fill the reservoirs or return to the extreme drought of the last 20 years. But he noted the wet winter has given the state an extra cushion to build on that shouldn’t be wasted.

“The growth of our state now and with the changes in the climate, we now find ourselves at a tipping point where we cannot continue to live the way we have over the course of the past hundred-plus years. We have to do better,” Cox said. “And this is our opportunity to conserve more even in the wet years.”

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, all rights reserved.

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