governor.utah.gov
SALT LAKE CITY — A lot of water is headed to the Great Salt Lake and not just because of a record winter for storms.
More than 20-thousand acre-feet of water is going to be permanently donated via 57-hundred water shares from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. (A water share is a certificate issued by an irrigation company and is basically a proof of water rights).
The announcement came Wednesday and on KVNU’s For the People program on Wednesday, executive director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources, and former state lawmaker from northern Utah, Joel Ferry said water in the state of Utah is really what drives a lot of economic activity.
“And so, it’s those diversions of water, whether it’s for agriculture, or in our homes, or in our businesses, we’ve got to balance because we’re in a closed basin. That water that we’re using is what historically would have gone to Great Salt Lake, and so, how do we balance that? That’s what we’re working on now, recognizing the need to use it wisely, use it efficiently,” he explained.
But there’s also a need to balance it with the environment and growing food and everything else. Ferry said it’s been a stark contrast, this winter from last.
“Talk about going from one extreme to another, I’ll tell you really quick, last year our snowpack water equivalent peaked out at about 11 – 11.5 inches statewide. Today(Wednesday) we just crossed over 23 inches, we’re in record-breaking territory right now, so what a difference a year makes.”
He said, of course, one year doesn’t fix this, so we have to focus on how we can be good stewards of this resource.