SOUTH DAVIS WATER DISTRICT
OFFICE NUMBER
801-295-4468
PHONE PAYMENTS
385-489-2210
Proudly Providing Quality Drinking Water & Irrigation Water Since 1954
AVAILABLE RESIDENTIAL REBATES
Rebates are offered through the the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District and is administered by the Utah Water Savers Program.
AVAILABLE COMMERCIAL REBATES
AVAILABLE LARGE SCALE TOILET REBATE PROGRAM
If you are a facility manager and would like to replace old toilets on a larger scale for businesses, apartments, or other non-residential facilities, you may qualify for this rebate. The facility must be older than 1994 and you must call and be pre-approved prior to the project to ensure the project qualifies and that there are funds remaining for the program for the year. You may select any toilet as plumbing codes have changed and all new toilets are considered “low flow” or “water efficient”. Rebate in this category is $75.00 per toilet.
Click to fill out a Weber Basin Water Conservancy District application for this rebate.
THE MIRACLE THAT IS YOUR WATER
It is important to understand where your water comes from. We need to understand the great lengths it took to get this water to us. Most people don't understand that the water that they are putting on their grass, and even drinking, has traveled roughly 65 miles through ditches, canals, culverts, aqueducts, and laterals to get to you. Most of us take this water for granted. Many people visiting this area are surprised by the large lawns, gardens, and other water intensive landscaping that we enjoy. We visit other arid states like Nevada, New Mexico, and Arizona for example, and notice that they do not have the same water intensive landscapes. These states mainly have xeriscaped landscapes. Nevada is the only state in the United States that receives less water annually than Utah. How is it possible that such an arid climate can sustain these landscapes? The answer, of course, is snow, and the ability we have to capture and store snow run off.
The current drought that we are experiencing is nothing new for this area. The Weber River Basin has always had times of plenty, and times of scarcity. The Weber River Basin is the geographic area that collects the rain and snow fall that provides some of the drinking water, and almost all of the irrigation water that we use. Early settlers, mainly Latter Day Saints, who moved into the Weber River Basin area during the mid 1800's, recorded only receiving an average of 18 inches of precipitation per year. They to, had to develop canals, ditches, and small reservoirs in order to transport and store water for use during dry times of the year.
In the early 1900's, very wise men began to conceptualize and design the Weber Basin Project. In 1952, funding for the project was secured from the federal government. The size and scope of the Weber Basin Project was immense. The project was divided into three phases. In phase one, a tunnel that is 3.3 miles long was cut into a mountainside in order to convey water from the Weber River diversion south to the Davis County area. Aqueducts were built of 80" concrete pipe that ran from the Weber River all the way to North Salt Lake, roughly 20 miles away. Other diversions, pumping stations, and canal systems were also built during phase one, but the most difficult project was the construction of Rockport Reservoir.
There was a lot of controversy over Rockport Reservoir. Many farmers had to sell fertile lands or have it condemned in order for the dam to be constructed. There were many protests at this time, and studies were conducted to find a different spot for the dam. To the farmer's and other landowner's chagrin, the original spot was proved to be the best. Once construction finally began, the contractor awarded the project ran into construction difficulties, such as massive boulders. Notwithstanding all of the difficulties involved, Rockport was completed in 1956. Rockport Reservoir can hold 60,860 acre feet, and is very important to our being able to have irrigation water during the summer. Rockport stores snow melt that flows from the Uintahs in the spring, and stores it until we need it during the dry months. If we did not have Rockport Reservoir, much of the snow melt we receive would flow right down into the Great Salt Lake.
Pineview reservoir existed at this time, but was much smaller. Part of phase one included increasing Pineview's capacity. Pineview's capacity increased from 44,200 acre feet to 110,149 acre-feet. Pineview is not part of the system that feeds the Davis County area, however.
Phase two of the Weber Basin Project consisted of constructing three new reservoirs, as well as installing powerplant generation sites along the Weber River conveyance. The first dam to be constructed during phase two was Willard Reservoir. This massive reservoir, and dam, took 7 years to construct. The Willard dam is, unbelievably, 15 miles long. Water from Willard can be conveyed to Davis County via two enormous pumps. Willard Reservoir had a capacity of 215,000 acre-feet once completed, but can hold 222,273 acre-feet now that Weber Basin Water Conservancy recently increased the height of the berms. The canal that conveys water to the reservoir from the Weber River was built during the construction of the reservoir. The canal is 10.7 miles long. Willard is used to store water that must be released from reservoirs upstream during the spring from high runoff, or collects any surplus flows throughout the year, to be used later in the year.
The Causey Dam and Reservoir were constructed next. This small reservoir collects snow runoff and releases it into the Pineview Reservoir that is located several miles west of Causey. Like Pineview, Causey Reservoir does not directly feed water to the Davis County area, but sends water down the Ogden River. Causey has a storage capacity of 7,070 acre-feet.
Lost Creek Reservoir, which is 10 miles north of Croydon, was another smaller reservoir that was constructed during the Weber Basin Project. This reservoir collects snowmelt in a canyon roughly 20 miles northwest of Echo Reservoir. The construction of this reservoir and dam was fraught with flooding due to a very heavy snow fall that took place in 1964. Lost Creek was not completed until 1967 due to this and other set backs. The capacity of the Lost Creek Reservoir is 22,501 acre-feet. Lost Creek releases water into the Weber River which directly benefits us.
Echo Reservoir had been constructed in the 1930's by the Federal Bureau of Reclamation during the Great Depression. This reservoir resides several miles west of Rockport Reservoir. It also collects snow melt and holds it for later use. It was updated in the 1960's during the Weber Basin Project and can now store 73,940 acre-feet when full, which it would seem is rarely the case that it is full. Rockport and Echo Reservoirs store and release most of the water we use during the irrigation season.
Phase three of the project began with the enlargement of the East Canyon Reservoir. This reservoir was originally built in the early 1900's . In 1916, the dam was increased in size. The dam of 1916 was constructed as a curving concrete structure. The dam was enlarged from 13,800 acre-feet to 51,200 acre-feet during the Weber Basin Project. The enlargement of East Canyon proved to be very difficult due to the inability of contractors to use explosives near the existing concrete dam. In some places the old dam was only 10 ft. away from the excavation of the new dam. This complication caused the contractors to fall behind schedule by almost a year. The dam was finally completed in December of 1966. The East Canyon Reservoir stores and releases water into the Weber River, but the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District only owns a portion of the shares of water in the reservoir. The East Canyon Reservoir supplements the water received from Rockport, Echo, and Lost Creek Reservoirs.
Many other smaller projects continued until 1969, when the Weber Basin Project was officially completed. The Weber Basin Water Conservancy District became the custodian of this vast network of reservoirs, dams, canals, tunnels, and pipes in April of 1969. It had been the Federal Bureau of Reclamation who had directed the majority of the construction of the Weber Basin Project. It is only just recently that the residents who benefit from the Weber Basin Project paid off the loan from the federal government.
The Weber Basin Project provides water to residents in Morgan, Summit, Weber, and Davis Counties. The area served covers over 2,500 square miles, or 3% of Utah. The water captured and stored is capable of irrigating 90,000 acres of land.
Notwithstanding the success of the Weber Basin Project, the steady increase in population along the Wasatch Front has created a huge demand on water. During periods of drought, this high demand can drain our reservoir's reserves quickly. We are currently in a situation where our reserves are dwindling at an alarming pace. Poor snowpack and dry soil conditions have created an emergency situation. Water conservation is our best bet at making it through the summer.
Reference: McCune, C. J., Bureau of Reclamation, 2001