Lehi Outlines Water Restrictions To Combat Drought

LEHI, Utah –  City leaders have been working to spread the word this week on water restrictions and what is and what is not required after acknowledging some confusion among residents over new rules.

Officials outlined on the Lehi City Facebook page and on the city’s website that residents “should only water up to three days per week with at least 48 hours between the start of your watering cycles for each of your irrigation zones.”

“This does not apply to garden areas, new seed or sod,” the post stated on Wednesday. “We strongly recommend only watering two days a week in June.”

Public works director David Norman said like other municipalities across the state, Lehi is facing difficult choices amid ongoing drought conditions.

“I don’t know that we’ve ever seen it quite this bad,” said Norman, who has worked in water management and public works for over 20 years. “Our streams are only flowing at 30% of average right now. Our snowpack is 40% of normal.”

He noted the last time Lehi city faced restrictions was in 2015.

“If we don’t conserve earlier, we will have to put heavier restrictions on later,” Norman said.

Norman said the city’s aim was to educate but cautioned that second and third offenses could bring $100 and $500 fines, respectively.

“We’re hoping that people will actively conserve this year,” he said. “An average cycle in your sprinkler system uses between 3,000 and 4,000 gallons, so that’s a lot of water in one cycle.”

Lehi resident Richard Yocom and his son-in-law, Ryan Trane, were spot-watering with a hose late Wednesday evening and acknowledged the restrictions were probably warranted and much-needed given the drought conditions.

“If you don’t have something, people are just going to go ‘hog-wild,’” Yocom said. “I hope that we can get some rain coming sometime soon. That would be nice.”