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Utah Prepares For Potential Water Rationing As Drought Conditions Persist

As Utah’s drought emergency continues, state officials are looking at the potential of water shortages that could lead to rationing.Utah Department of Natural Resources Executive Director Brian Steed says he’s encouraging people to be “very, very wary” of how they use water this year. He also says the state has to plan on the drought conditions “maybe not being better next year.”

 

Water districts across the state say there is believed to be enough supply to cover this year, but state officials are bracing to potentially ration water next year if the state doesn’t receive heavier snowpacks this winter.

 

Steed says he hopes we don’t have to begin rationing water. But, if we do, he says “the first thing that will be asked to be cut will be outdoor water.” He says in the worst case scenario, because people need water to live, state officials will have to “prioritize culinary water, water for sanitation and water for fire suppression.”

Tyler Hewitt is the web/social media assistant at UPR. He writes stories every day, updates the website and manages the station's Twitter and Facebook pages. Tyler is a senior at Utah State University and is studying public relations, marketing, and psychology. He loves to write, listen to music, play video games, play tennis and hang out with his fiancé and cat, Juno. He is a great plant dad and recently started collecting vinyl records!