Big Runoff This Spring Brings Big Challenges
The snowpack is near normal in a few places and lagging in southeastern Utah. But most drainages are way above average. It’s the first time in 6 years that water managers are worrying about too much water instead of a shortage.
“In 2017, Mother Nature threw us a knuckleball,” says Wayne Pullan, who leads the Bureau of Reclamation’s Provo area office. “A knuckleball is a changeup pitch, and a knuckleball works because it’s unpredictable.”
Utah’s had the biggest snowpack in modern history. Rivers are running big, too, and more than a month early. And Pullan’s agency is keeping tabs on what these trends might mean in the weeks and months to come.
With all of Utah’s reservoirs expected to fill this year besides Strawberry, water managers are preparing for different challenges. Flooding can damage property. Surging rivers can drown people. Landslides have been known to damage roads and even kill people. Utah typically sees peak runoff in May and June unless temperatures stay unusually warm.
“The other variables are the temperature and the precipitation that we continue to receive,” says Pullan, “and so it becomes a balancing act.”
His office oversees 49 major and minor dams, along with more than 600 miles of canals, pipelines and tunnels. Most of those facilities are old, but he says the system is tended and monitored well, and some parts have been updated.