SALT LAKE CITY — Utah will realize more than 7,500 acre-feet of water savings each year with the completion of 10 projects across the state to boost efficiency and bolster water supplies.
An acre-foot is 326,000 gallons of water, or enough to cover a football field one foot deep with water.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced this week it is giving $29.1 million in WaterSmart grants to Western states, with $5.4 million headed to Utah to help offset costs of projects planned for multiple counties and communities.
A 1,700-foot unlined earthen canal that serves the Davis and Weber Counties Canal Co., will be replaced with steel piping and a culvert, boosting water savings for a system that's experienced shortened irrigation seasons due to years of drought. Lining the canal will save water by preventing seepage and evaporation.
The $2.2 million project also includes a hydropower component to help offset energy consumption. Reclamation awarded $880,000 for that project, which is expected to result in water savings of 841 acre-feet on an annual basis and allow water to be stored in Echo and East Canyon reservoirs for longer periods of time, helping native fish species.
The grants foster the importance of water savings and amplify what was achieved with the historic lining of the Murdock Canal in Utah County, which runs more than 21 miles and was enclosed and turned into a popular recreation trail.
In Sanpete County, the Moroni and Mount Pleasant Irrigation Co. will convert 3.5 milles of an open earthen canal with 30-inch piping in a system that will also include modernized measuring devices and metering. That canal has experienced losses as high as 30 to 60 percent and the yearslong drought has forced shortened irrigation seasons.
The company expects a water savings each year of 1,221 acre-feet, with the new pressurized pipeline also allowing irrigators to complete on-farm improvements such as transitioning from flood irrigation to sprinkler systems. The project cost is nearly $1.9 million, with the federal government kicking in $847,000.
In addition to funding canal lining projects, the federal government awarded nearly $600,000 to accelerate several communities' transitions to secondary water metering and real-time monitoring systems so users are aware of their consumption habits.
In Spanish Fork, 1,000 new smart irrigation controllers will replace outdated meters and the city is implementing portal software that will notify customers of leaks. An estimated 17,500 pressurized irrigation meters will be reprogrammed to work with the software. The bureau awarded $277,000 to offset the project's cost of $692,000.
A grant of $300,000 will allow the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District — the largest system in Utah with secondary water metering — to expand those meters into the southern Davis County communities of Bountiful and Woods Cross.
Tage Flint, the district's general manager, said 700 meters will be installed on the retail system the district operates in time for next year's irrigation season.
The district has about 8,000 secondary water meters throughout its system in a project it first launched seven years ago.
"We're still seeing about a little more than 20 percent in savings," Flint said. The system becomes particularly useful for customers when it identifies leaks, he added, and the district can step in and help with repairs.
System users get a monthly mailer and have access to a real-time portal.
"They can see last night's usage if they want," Flint said.
The project cost is $855,000 and includes a hydroelectric component the bureau funded.
In the last legislative session, Utah lawmakers passed a law requiring metering of pressurized secondary water on new construction after April 1, 2020.