State of Emergency Due to Drought Conditions
With 100% of the state experiencing drought and 90% in extreme drought, Gov. Spencer J. Cox issued an Executive Order declaring a state of emergency due to drought conditions.
This declaration allows drought-affected communities, agricultural producers and others to officially begin the process that may provide access to state or federal emergency resources.
Despite some much-needed storms, things are still really dry. Drought or no drought, we need to get aggressive with our conservation efforts because we live in one of the driest states in the nation.
Recent storms are not enough to pull the state out of drought. The snowpack peaked 10 days early at 81% of average. Peaking early means the runoff won’t be as effective, with less water making it to fill rivers and streams. And with soil moisture the lowest we’ve seen since monitoring began in 2006, we have very low streamflow runoff projections.
With less water expected to enter our lakes and reservoirs, we are asking people to be aware of their water use. Turn off water when not actively in use, run full loads in the dishwasher and washing machine, and most importantly, wait to water. A single lawn watering for the average quarter-acre lot in Utah uses 3,000 gallons of water. If we all shift our water habits and use less, we can make the water we have last longer.
For drought-related questions, please email drought@utah.gov.
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