This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Riverton residents are not going to be forced to stop watering their lawns because of a shrinking Utah Lake after all.

The lake is still well below its normal level — past the point that triggers a mandatory shut-off of secondary water. But a meeting of canal association presidents and the state engineer's office Tuesday ended with an exchange agreement that will allow continued access to secondary water for the 40,000-plus residents of Riverton.

"The result: canal operators in Salt Lake County will continue to deliver water to Riverton City," the city said in a statement posted on its website.

Some of the replacement water will come from others' primary water rights shares of Utah Lake and some from Deer Creek Reservoir, said Jared Manning, assistant state engineer.

The city faced the mandatory shut-off of its secondary water shares from Utah Lake water because the lake has dropped significantly below 125,000-acre feet, the designated "compromise level."

City leaders had scheduled an emergency meeting Tuesday night to impose a mandatory outdoor watering schedule, including a ban on Sunday watering. That was canceled Tuesday.

"There are lots of smiles in Riverton today, I'll tell you that," said Mayor Bill Applegarth.

"To the credit of the canal presidents, they've negotiated a deal where they feel they will have enough water to carry all of the users, not just Riverton City, to Oct. 1. It's really really great news for us."

The Utah Lake secondary water to Riverton is normally shut off around mid-October, but most lawns and gardens will be fine with the cutoff coming two weeks early, the mayor said.

There is no plan to impose a mandatory watering schedule even as a way to extend the flow.

"Absolutely not," Applegarth said. "It's back to normal. We always want our people to conserve and we will keep talking about that.… We're not in this emergency but we should always be using our water very carefully because we live in a desert."

Earlier this summer an algal bloom forced closure of Utah Lake and health warnings on the Jordan River through Salt Lake County. The closures forced temporary shut-off of Riverton's secondary water.

The lake is currently at its lowest since 2004: 6¼ feet below compromise level. If it loses another 1¾ feet, the water on a calm day could be too low to reach the pumps so no users would have access.

Such a problem is "conceivable," Manning said. "[But] my gut feeling is that the primary water rights will make it through the season without having a serious shortage."

A strong north wind could force temporary shut down of the pumps but "you usually don't get a sustained wind like that."

Manning acknowledged that if the drought — now in its fifth year — continues into next year, "we could be in trouble."

Riverton's mayor is pleased his city's short-term issue is resolved. But he knows serious long-term concerns remain.

"My perception is Utah Lake is a sick lake and if we're committed to Utah Lake ... we need to start treating it better," Applegarth said."It's going to take a lot of hard work on behalf of the state of Utah to help restore Utah Lake to the condition it needs to be in as a healthy lake."