Sevier River Basin
(November 2004)
As of November 22, 2004, the Sevier River basin has had 259 percent of normal precipitation with snow water content of 264 percent of normal for this dime of year. Most of the real-time basin stream flows are within 25 to 75 percent of normal. This above normal precipitation is welcome for the Sevier River Basin, but does not necessarily mean that the drought is over since most of the 2005 water year is yet to come. Due to lower-than-normal precipitation during the last five years, above average precipitation is needed to begin to restore normal flows and reservoir levels. Reservoir storage, 11.6% of storage capacity as of November 18, 2004, is down from one year ago. Draining the reservoirs by the end of the irrigation season appears to be happening commonly during this drought period but hopefully will not occur again this coming irrigation season year.
Figures 1 and 2. Sevier Basin Reservoir Storage and USGS Realtime Station Status
In the Upper Sevier River basin reservoir storage is beginning once again to fill the reservoirs that were all nearly emptied. Despite the fact that reservoir storage has increased by nearly 20,000 acre-feet since the end of the irrigation season, storage levels are still below the end of season reservoir storage last year. Real time USGS stations show that stream flows for most areas of Utah are near normal (green dots) or somewhat lower than normal (brown dots).
Municipal
Community drinking water supplies throughout the basin continue to be unthreatened by the drought. Communities institute watering restrictions as necessity but have reported no shortage of water. For municipalities the water situation does not appear critical so far this year.
Irrigation
Reservoir storage is lower than one year ago and is still a concern in the Sevier River basin . Because soil moisture storage is high, it is hoped that mountain precipitation will translate into normal or above stream flows this year.
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