Utahns may soon face watering restrictions, water managers say
Jul 14, 2025, 3:00 PM
A boater cruises at Yuba State Park on Tuesday, June 27, 2023. (Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)
(Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — More than a half dozen major reservoirs in central and southern Utah have fallen below 40% capacity. These include Yuba, Gunnison, Piute and Lake Powell in central, southern and eastern Utah.
“They are a little bit lower than they would be on a typical year,” said Laura Haskell, drought coordinator with the Utah Division of Water Resources.
In the spring of 2025, Utahns were feeling the biggest reason behind this dip. That’s when temperatures were much warmer than normal. Those temperatures led the snowpack to melt faster and the reservoirs to start losing water faster.
“It was sort of a cascading effect,” Haskell said.
“It caused that inflow to the reservoir to be a little bit early, so they started going down early as well,” she said.
Other factors include low soil moisture in the fall of 2024, and a snowpack that was “just okay.”
Possible water restrictions in Utah
Because of the results of this chain reaction, Haskell said some people living around these reservoirs could see outdoor watering restrictions at some point before winter.
Reservoir levels along the Wasatch Front are in much better shape. However, the Great Salt Lake is nearing its lowest level since 2023. Today, Lake Powell is only 33% full.
FILE: Waves come in along the beach at the Great Salt Lake State Park and Marina in Magna on Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (Brice Tucker/Deseret News)
Haskell urges all Utah residents to focus on cutting outdoor water use in case Mother Nature doesn’t bail us out this winter.
“We’re not going to be refilling those [reservoirs] until next spring, so let’s be careful with what we have,” she said.
KSL NewsRadio’s Simone Seikaly contributed to this report.
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