Unlike much of Utah, Logan City Mayor Holly Daines said Logan is very fortunate to not
be in a state of drought. Logan City Water Department Manager Joseph Hawkes said that
compared to last year, the water wells are doing better than they expected.
“A lot better than last year actually, yeah. Last year they went dry a lot sooner. It was I think in May they kind of started to taper off. Whereas usually we see them reach a peak in June and then they start to fade out through July and August," Hawkes said. "So this year is looking a lot more like a normal year. And I think that's credit to some of the late snow in the late rain that we got.”
Hawkes also said that although Logan had less snowfall last winter, the snow lasted longer and the late season rainfalls also helped with filling the wells. Right now, Logan does not have any water usage restrictions. Still, Hawkes said they are sharing conservation tips every week on Facebook.
“And so we're pushing some of that material out there," Hawkes said. "And last year, we actually saw a reduction in use even though we never had mandatory restrictions. And so the residents of the city were willingly cutting back because they knew about the drought and they were being more responsible in their water use.”
As most of Logan’s water usage goes into irrigation, Hawkes has some tips that include not watering yards during the middle of the day when water can easily evaporate and watering no more than three times a week. He said the drought has brought awareness of how precious water is, and that we shouldn’t take it for granted.
“And again, I think last summer was a great example, our citizens responded really well in a voluntary way. And they conserved quite a bit of water and really reduced and, you know, I think they did a really good job," Hawkes said. "And we can all continue to do that as we move forward.”
In part two of this series, learn about how Logan's expansion will affect its water needs and the plans Mayor Daines has for the city:
