EMERY, Utah — The small town of Emery is facing a water crisis unlike anything longtime residents say they have ever seen.
Water supplies are so low that town leaders have shut off secondary water, ranchers are scrambling to save crops and livestock, and residents are being asked to conserve culinary water wherever possible.
“In Emery… water isn’t just limited this year,” said rancher Kirk Christiansen. “It’s nearly gone.”
Christiansen says conditions are worse than even the historic drought years many locals still remember.
“We've never seen a year like this,” Christiansen said. “The last bad year was the year I was born in '77. They were like 25% of normal. This year we're at 6% of normal, so it's atrocious.”
For ranchers across Emery, the numbers are difficult to comprehend.
Reservoirs that normally help carry farms and ranches through the summer barely filled this spring. Christiansen says one of the area’s main reservoirs — capable of holding roughly 600 acre-feet of water — only filled to about 30 to 40% capacity this year.
“So there's no water storage,” Christiansen said. “We typically don't use that water until mid-July. We turned it loose last week.”
Instead of saving water for the hottest months of the year, many Emery farmers are already using what little water they have left just trying to grow a first crop of hay.
“I usually produce about 200 bales of hay,” Christiansen said. “This year I'll probably be buying 600 to 700 bales of hay because we're going to come off the mountain early.”
The impacts stretch far beyond agriculture.
Mayor Jack Funk says the town has no secondary irrigation water this year and residents are being asked to conserve culinary water so basic needs can still be met.
“That people can drink, shower, and do their thing,” Funk said. “Secondary water is off to be able to conserve that. There's not a lot of water. The ditch is at 6% of normal.”
Funk says the drought has exposed a long-standing issue for the community: Emery has no reservoir capable of storing runoff during wetter years.
“Due to the drought, we've not got the runoff we normally do, and Emery town doesn't have a reservoir to retain the water,” Funk said.
Now, as water supplies dwindle, town leaders are pushing harder than ever for a long-discussed reservoir project that could help stabilize the town’s future water supply.
The project is currently undergoing feasibility and environmental studies, but building a new reservoir can take years. Projects often require state and federal approvals, environmental reviews, land agreements, engineering studies, and significant funding before construction can begin.
Funk estimates a reservoir for Emery could cost $30 million or more.
Still, the mayor said the drought crisis may finally be generating momentum.
“I'm optimistic about the future,” Funk said. “We've got a lot of people that reached out to us through the state and water conservancy district. We're going to try to pull our resources and see about getting a reservoir that's been in the works for years.”
Even as conditions worsen, many in Emery say they are refusing to give up.
Christiansen says ranchers are already trying to adapt by searching for outside pasture and feed options for cattle, though drought conditions across much of the West are making that difficult, too.
“We have to just be real proactive and think outside the box,” Christiansen said. “Maybe ship our cattle somewhere else to feed them instead of leaving them here.”
For now, though, many in Emery are simply hoping the weather changes soon.
“We're just hoping it rains like crazy,” Funk said. “The monsoons are coming, I hope.”
