Click the link to read the article on The Salt Lake Tribune website (Leia Larsen). Here’s an excerpt:
May 21, 2026
Enforcement actions will be left up to local water providers, who urge Utahns to cut back on outdoor irrigation.
Following Utah’s winter of “no-pack,” Gov. Spencer Cox has declared a state of emergency over drought conditions. The governor and Utah water managers stood near the shores of Little Dell Reservoir in Salt Lake County to outline how dire conditions have become: the worst snowfall seen in generations. Record-breaking spring heat. Rural towns that will have practically no irrigation season this summer. Forestry managers bracing for a rough fire season. And the continued decline of the Great Salt Lake and Colorado River.
“We can’t bank on what Mother Nature might deliver next winter,” Cox said at a news conference Thursday [May 22, 2026]. “Precipitation isn’t promised, and conservation is a choice that we can all make, and must make at this time.”
Utah’s April 1 snowpack averaged 2.7 inches of snow water equivalent, the amount of water the snow releases when it melts. That’s the lowest since 1930, the governor said. The normal snow water equivalent is around 14 inches at the start of April. In 2023, which saw record snowfall, the state had an average of 28 inches in April. Snowmelt provides almost all of the water supplies across the state, and runoff is what helps the Great Salt Lake and reservoirs rise each spring. The governor’s emergency declaration does not contain any mandatory actions, though. It calls on Utahns to voluntarily take water-saving measures like fixing irrigation leaks, installing low-flow toilets and replacing unused grass with water-wise plants…The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food said the declaration opens up the Emergency Disaster Relief Loan program for farmers and ranchers across the state. The program offers seven-year loans of up to $100,000 at 0% interest for the first 2 years, and 2.75% interest thereafter. Those funds can only be used for declared disaster-related losses not covered by insurance, the department said.
