Water being shipped in by truck to serve small Utah town in drought

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ECHO, Utah (KTVX) — In parts of Utah, drought conditions are so bad that water now has to be delivered to a small town east of Salt Lake City.

People living in Echo, a community in Summit County, depend on mountain springs for culinary water.

“I have never seen it this dry in 20 years,” said resident Kim Boss. “We have not ever run out of water unless we’ve had a water main break. It’s never been this dry”

Echo is purchasing water from nearby towns like Henefer and having that water brought in by trucks.

At the nearby Echo Reservoir, water levels are noticeably low. Although Echo doesn’t draw culinary water from that reservoir, the visual of low water helps provide context for the drought.

Across the state, reservoirs are at 56% capacity.

“This has never happened to Echo before,” said Candice Hasenyager, deputy director at the Utah Division of Water Resources. “They’ve never had to truck water in.”

Although Echo is small, she says it’s also a reminder of the dramatic consequences of the worst drought Utahns have seen in their lifetime. Echo’s story, she says, is the canary in the coal mine — a warning of what the future could look like if the drought continues and water isn’t conserved.

“What will really impact people is when they do run into an issue–when it does stop flowing out of their tap,” said Hasenyager.

Most of Utah won’t face that problem, at least not this year. But if Utah doesn’t get 150% of normal snowpack this winter, she says drought issues will persist and certain communities in Utah could face similar scenarios come next year.