Water Sources and History

Salt Lake City's Water - From the Mountain Streams to Your Tap
Many people do not understand why they must pay for the water that comes out of their tap. They do not understand or are not aware of the complex system that delivers their water. They believe that snow falls in winter, melts in spring, they turn on their tap and the water is there.

Salt Lake City has one of the most complex distribution systems in the country. Delivery of water to Salt Lake City and county residents depends on a complex network of dams, aqueducts, water treatment plants, distribution reservoirs, and water mains. Upkeep and maintenance of older systems and construction of new systems is very costly.

Four local sources supply Salt Lake City's water requirements: City Creek, Parleys Creek, and Big and Little Cottonwood Creeks supply about 57 percent. The Deer Creek Project, 40 miles southeast of Salt Lake City, supplies approximately 27 percent. The balance of the needed water comes from flowing wells in the artesian basin southeast of Salt Lake City and from deep wells on the City's north and east benches. Water from Central Utah Project's Jordanelle. Reservoir will provide water to meet population growth through the year 2025.

All of this water has been treated before it reaches the tap in order to eliminate disease-causing organisms, silt, grit and humus material, unpalatable tastes, objectionable odors and disagreeable color.

Water treatment consists of three steps: disinfection, sedimentation, and filtration. To see more information of the treatment process click here.

After water is treated, it flows through aqueducts into distribution reservoirs throughout the system. When water demand is low, pumps move unneeded water into the reservoirs. Water can be drawn out during high demand or when it is needed to fight fires.

Flows are adjusted by skilled operators to make sure customers receive the water they need. Other Salt Lake City Public Utilities employees flush mains to keep water fresh as well as check hydrants to make sure water can be provided to fight fires.

The Salt Lake City water system serves more than 404,561 people and has more than 87,233 water service connections. The department provides an average of 81.2 million gallons of water daily or about 160 gallons per person per day. Peak demands reach over 219 million gallons a day during the hot summer months. The annual delivery of 29 billion gallons would form a stream eight feet wide and four inches deep reaching from Salt Lake City to the moon.

There are 14,925 valves and 8,477 fire hydrants in the water system. Total water mains in service would reach from Salt Lake City to Indianapolis, indiana or 1,500 miles.

Even though Salt Lake City has one of the most complicated water delivery systems in the country, it has one of the lowest water rates.

A Little Background

Salt Lake City established the Water Department in 1875 to manage the City Creek Canyon water supply, and provide water service to 20,000 residents. Today we deliver between 50 million and 210 million gallons of water daily to nearly 405,000 people in Salt Lake City and eastern Salt Lake County, including workers who commute into the city during the day.

To meet the demand for this service, the department treats and transports more than 100,000 acre feet of water annually through a system fed by Deer Creek Reservoir, City Creek, Parley's, Big and Little Cottonwood streams, and deep wells throughout the Salt Lake Valley. The Little Dell Project, completed during the fall of 1992 provides an additional 21,000 acre feet of storage. Salt Lake City's system is one of the world's most complex culinary water systems because of the number of water sources and differences in service elevations.

The City water supply meets or exceeds all water quality requirements set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Utah State Department of Health, and the Safe Drinking Water Act.

For a more detailed history of the Department of Public Utilities, and Salt Lake City's water supply, click here.

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