photography / Troy Boman A sprinkler waters crops in Grantsville Wednesday. The Grantsville Irrigation company has a temporary use-it-or-lose-it policy until May 22, unlike Settlement Canyon Irrigation company which is restricting use due to low runoff.

by Sarah Miley

STAFF WRITER

Even though the Settlement Canyon Irrigation Company just turned on its water Saturday, restrictions have already been put in place because of the lack of water in Settlement Canyon reservoir.

"There's absolutely no runoff coming out of the canyon and the reservoir is going down instead of going up," said Gary Bevan, Settlement Canyon Irrigation Company president. "It's been a cold spring and there's just no runoff from snowmelt yet."

The weekend restrictions consist of no watering from Friday at 7 p.m. until Monday at 6 a.m.

Bevan said it's best if people water at night, but there are currently no daytime restrictions. He added if the runoff doesn't come soon, more severe restrictions will likely be put into place.

At the Rocky Basin Snotel measuring station, Bevan said there was only one week all winter that levels hit 100 percent of normal. In contrast, he said we have better low-level snowpack that should make the water run longer. But, he stressed, estimating runoff is never an exact science.

"The worst thing that's happening to us is April is one of our wettest months," he said, adding the area only received minimal precipitation the whole month. "May is the next wettest and if we don't get any in May then who knows what's going to happen."

He said hot south winds can evaporate snowpacks into the atmosphere instead of creating runoff.

"It hasn't been a good spring for us," he said. "No rain with south winds."

Bevan said he thinks the lack of water is also a result of last year's drought.

"People just need to realize we're going to have to conserve," he said, adding no water other than the Right Hand Fork Springs are coming in.

"We're about 18 feet below the spillway," he said. "For the last few years it's been right up to the top at this time, so people have a choice of using it now or using it later, and everything they use now they won't use later."

Once the water was turned on last weekend, several lines were found to have leaks. Some of the lines were shut off for repairs, but they are now all back online.

"Through the winter things happen and sometimes it takes a few days for them to show up, but I know of no water that's shut off now," Bevan said.

He added delinquent accounts and those who have connections and no shares need to resolve those issues or their water will be shut off.

With regards to the proposed installation of water meters, Bevan said a committee has been formed to figure out the details of such a project.

"When they get all of their things together then we'll hold a meeting and the shareholders will decide," he said. "We're not going to do anything they don't want to do."

The situation on the west side of the valley is considerably better, with above-average snowpack in the Stansbury Range throughout the winter that should contribute to heavy runoff and a full Grantsville reservoir.

Grantsville Irrigation Company turned on its water several weeks ago and has since issued two use-or-lose agricultural turns that will expire May 22.

"The reservoir will probably run over and it'll be wasted so we issue those so it'll draw the reservoir down so when the high runoff comes it won't overflow," said Lynn Taylor, watermaster of Grantsville Irrigation Company.

Last week a pressure station malfunctioned and about half of the town's water had to be shut down for about 48 hours, Taylor said. It has since been fixed.

In terms of residential restrictions in Grantsville, there are none except the rule that people don't water between the hours of 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Farmers, who don't have to adhere to that rule, have to call and report when they're watering.

Taylor said the reservoir is currently about 7 feet from running over, and it's going down a little bit because of the cold weather. But, he said, that will change when the weather starts to warm up and the snow melts.

"And that's the purpose of the two use-or-lose turns, so that we can conserve the water and use it while we've got it," he said.

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