water year was worse than first thought.. DUH!!

[fuzzyfisher]

Julander: water year was worse that figures indicate Friday October 01, 2004
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Utah's precipitation during the water year that ended Thursday was close to normal, but it came at the wrong times to break the drought.
``The upshot of it is, we got 86 percent of average precipitation,'' said Randy Julander, snow survey supervisor for the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service office in Salt Lake City. ``It doesn't sound too awful.''
But too little of that precipitation made it to the reservoirs.
``The problem is that, again, you have to go back to where your water supply actually comes from. It comes from snow,'' Julander said. ``And although we did all right precipitation-wise, we still didn't do nearly as well as we should have.''
At the beginning of March, Utah had a snowpack that was 130 percent of normal.
Throughout the West, that month was the warmest March on record.
``It was unbelievably hot,'' 10 to 15 degrees above normal, Julander said.
And snowfall that month was way below average.
``Normally, March is a very snowy month,'' Julander said. ``We didn't get any snow, we melted what we had, and we ended up the year in the hole.''
With the ground dried out by previous years of drought, much of the snowmelt just soaked into the earth. Streams barely rose, doing little to replenish the reservoirs, which are at record or near-record levels.
Bear Lake is at its lowest level since the dust bowl years of the 1930s.
``This is the first year that the Utah small pumpers had their water shut off,'' Julander said. Those farmers were told to quit pumping from the Bear River because their water rights were junior to others who needed the scarce water.
Reservoirs along the Sevier River are nearly empty, resulting in managers increasing the number of fish that can be caught in Otter Creek and other areas.
On the plus side, this summer turned out to be normal for precipitation. ``At the higher elevations we got pretty close to average precipitation and temperatures were 10, 12 degrees cooler,'' Julander said.
The rainfall also improved Utah's soil moisture, and next spring's runoff may not have as much water soaked up by the ground as happened this year.

dude on fish?
Ron
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[PREDATOR]

Its amazing when you realize how bad the water situation is.

Say we had a really, really bad winter, 200% of average snowfall.

We would still be 6 years behind on the water levels across the state.

One winter wont fix this problem, even if its a really bad one.

Yet the vast majority of us have green lawns and waste water like its not running out.

I live on the bear river, and the local people in my community were the ones hurt by the water being shut off early on them.

Its a huge issue that effects good peoples lives not to mention our lake levels, fishing, and future.

Water conservation is a very important issue.

The utah studies that have been done on water usage, and water wasteage are staggering.
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[cat_man]

It really pissed me off the other day WHILE it was raining, the sprinklers in my apartment complex were on! They have them on a timer so noone has to mess with them, but hello when it's cooler, and/or when it rains, the sprinklers don't need to be on as often. It's such a waste and can even promote unhealthy lawns by promoting shallow root system and making it susceptible to fungus.
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[Xman]

water conservation? is that even a term in this state. how about driving the weber and ogden rivers right now. they are running high water mark meeting at the 12 st canal and going to god only knows where, but not into willard where it normally ends up. though i dont know this for sure I have heard this several times now of the farmers and groups who bought water rights and they will use them regardless of if they need the water or not. i do know i have seen numerous fields with the irrigation canals flooding them right now this time of year with no crops in them. i think this talk of water conservation is pointless if the state doesnt make the owners of the water rights responsible for where it is going or within reason of conserving it. can anyone explain to me why two river drainages run at high water in the fall out of irrigation season? the answer will be electricity needs and demands or its their water they can do with it what they want. call and ask I have been told that countless times now. its disturbing.
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[FishingWaters]

[font "Times New Roman"]Most of the water in the state does go to use on farmland some where around 60% -70% state wide. In the Weber Davis area the reservoirs have about 551,000 acre-feet capacity about 220,000 acre-feet out of this is used for agriculture that’s 62%. In total the area uses about 350,000 acre-feet per year. This leaves 130,000 acre-feet for M&I use and around 60% of this is used outdoors.[/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"]The government, both federal and state, has done a good job getting a message out about conserving water. The problem is how do you get those who do not care about how much water they use to conserve? I still run across those that think there is no water shortage and all they want is a green grass. How ever most I talk to want to improve their irrigation system to use less water. [/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"]There is a model ordinance that cities can pass that will help conserve water but most cities wont even take a look at it.[/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"]I belong to the Utah Irrigation Association and we are working on some legislation that will help conserve water. We are looking for other groups and legislators that can help us. We also need someone to help us right the legislation. We also have a strong voice in the state on water conservation issues, if you have ideas on what needs to be done to influence those who don’t care how much water they use send me an email. [/font]
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[Xman]

thanks for the info fishing waters. im not a expert on water management nor do i claim to be at all. i am wondering is it a concern what is going on in the weber and ogden drainages? i just have to wonder why the rivers run so high out of irrigation season with no crops to water and yet no water hits its final destination. the great salt lake suffers beyond recongition and so does willard. its hard to imagine since it appears we do have the water to run and flow yet never makes its final stop. i guess all i would have is personal ideas which doesnt really hold much clout in the scheme of things. but i would be more than happy to get involved and find out how or what needs to be done to get a voice heard to sound management.
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[tightline]

The part that really gets me worked up. The Weber runs crazy high this fall the browns start to spawn and then suddenly they all but shut it off with a very minimal flow all winter. I have been told it is to conserve all they can in the resivoires because they are too low. If they could only slow the flow to what the really need in the fall winter would not be near the problem it has been the last few years. It has to be hard on natural recruitment and I have seen winter kill the last three years through the valley.
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[icthys]

Conservation is a joke here in the second driest state. I've watered my lawn twice in the last month and it's still nice and green. What kills me is watching Huntsman and Matheson air commercials on nuclear waste, really is that more important than focusing on a problem that will effect every person in Utah?

I may be selfish but let all the reservoirs run dry, it will run all the farmers out of business leaving them to find a new source of income or they will move. Then all the jack's that water their lawn everyday from March to November will burn up and run off to greener pastures far away from Utah. Once this happens it will leave all of us that care will a state void of all the Utards.
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