SALT LAKE CITY — It is such a beautiful time of year as the colors as the leaves change, and right now, we’ve got a little more water in local streams and rivers. Experts say it is Salt Lake City's wettest October on record, and that's particularly good ahead of our snowpack season.
"Oct. 1 is the beginning of the water year, so that’s how hydrologists really check the whole water year that we get from October through the end of September, and the beginning of that has been spectacular! It really has been great," said Michael Sanchez, a hydrologist with Utah's Division of Water Resources. "You can think of our soil as kind of a sponge... If you have a dry sponge, the water will just get soaked up into the soil and it’ll just stay there. And if you have good soil moisture... that means it’s already saturated, and then water will just flow off into streams and reservoirs and hopefully will get into our water supply and things like that."
The Division of Water Resources recently issued a report showing that our soil moisture right now is 10 percent higher than usual, but they say what we need right now is a consistent storm pattern throughout the upcoming winter season, with one storm after the other adding to our snowpack.
"If you’re running a marathon and you’ve got 26 miles, we’re at mile three, and we’re doing really good, but we have a long road ahead," Sanchez said.
Sanchez says all the recent precipitation also helped reduce demand, encouraging homeowners to cut off their watering right now.
On Slow The Flow's watering guide on their website, only Washington County is advised to still be watering, and only once a week. Now is a good time to take your attention indoors, looking at possible leaks and ways to be more water-wise in your home, with rebates on their website to upgrade your toilets and other items.
"If you’re thinking about transitioning your lawn into something more water-wise, now is a really good time to start that process," Sanchez said.
In Utah, homeowners are eligible for a landscape incentive program where they can get up to $3 a square foot for replacing their lawns.
"It can save you some money for a large project like that," Sanchez said.
