Recently I drove through areas of the Wasatch Back, every town still had snow depth this late in the year (spring) that had the resemblance of being in a high mountain ski resort town. The mountains are just full of record snow from the valleys all the way to the peaks.
It is getting late in the year where the high runoff season will be short with the likelihood of a quick warm up causing extreme runoff. It appears water managers should have already been draining down Deer Creek, Jordanelle and Utah Lake with flows in the Provo and Jordan River much higher than they are at this point, which is very low.
There is no way we will not have plenty of runoff to fill the upstream lakes during the runoff season. Also, if needed, the flows downstream in the Jordan could be cut back at a later date depending on conditions. There are many homes and landowners along the Jordan River that could be flooded or impacted by this delay. It seems the water managers are taking a very high risk (waiting) with the shortening of the window to move water downstream to the Great Salt Lake where peoples’ homes and property could be flooded by inaction.
I hope that they have their calculations correct because it seems they have plenty of tools as things progress to make adjustments, if needed, without putting themselves in a box by not moving water downstream sooner.
Ken Olsen, Sandy