The rumors are true: Ogden is drawing down Pineview Reservoir during a drought.
It’s part of the city’s project to replace a 100-year-old water pipeline, including a section that’s been under Pineview Reservoir for about 55 years.
“There's never going to be a good time to do this, but this is probably the least bad time,” said Dan Bedford, who teaches climate science at Weber State University.
The city sees this winter’s record-low snowpack as an opportunity because it means less water needs to be released for the pipeline to become accessible. Pineview is currently 63% full — a level it normally reaches between August and September.
And if conservation is a priority, the project can’t wait forever. The old pipeline leaks about a million gallons of water a day.
To replace the underwater pipeline, crews need to work about 50 feet below the current surface level. Water is already being released slightly faster than normal, said Jeffrey Putzke, a spokesperson for Sunrise Engineering, which is working with Ogden City on the project. The drawdown rate will increase in early September, so the pipeline will become accessible in mid-September. The plan is for construction to begin in early October.
Some of that water will be lost to evaporation, but much of it will be distributed to water users. Commercial and industrial water users are getting all the water they have rights to this year, Putzke said.
“Another reason why we want to draw down a little faster than normal now is we want to deliver it during peak demand to the irrigation users.”
Whatever’s left will flow toward Willard Bay. This means less water is coming from other reservoirs like Causey.
Putzke said the timing also works out because some funding needs to be used by 2029.
But it’s bad news for boaters. Putzke expects ramps to close in early August, on top of the Port Ramp Marina that’s already closed for unrelated construction. Beachgoers will see more dirt, especially in September, as the reservoir hits its lowest point since a pipeline repair in 1992.
“This will become something that is, we acknowledge, a visual eyesore, because as you get closer to the bottom, you see more of the bottom,” Putzke said.
The only recreationists who seem to come out ahead are anglers, because the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources plans to double harvest limits so fish won’t be harmed by falling water levels.
Ogden City considered other options, but Putzke said each had its drawbacks. A cofferdam to hold back water around the pipeline would have been more expensive and introduced construction materials with potential environmental impacts. And sending divers down would have taken closer to six months.
“Unfortunately, each one of those came at the expense of time,” Putzke said.
The city says one average season of snowfall will refill the reservoir. While that’s true, Bedford said, it’s impossible to know what this winter will bring. And as the climate changes, Utah is trending toward more rain and less snow.
“It’s very difficult to put a percentage chance on the likelihood of us getting an average snow year again,” he said.
Bedford understands why lowering Pineview’s level could make water managers nervous. If this winter is as bad as the last, he doesn’t think there’s much to do except get serious about conservation. And if more dry years stack up, things will get very hard. But sometimes, like the winter of 2022 to 2023, Utah’s unpredictable snowfall delivers.
“In some respects, it's a no-win situation. We just have to gamble and hope for the best.”
Construction is expected to wrap up by late January so the reservoir can start refilling. At the end of the day, Putzke said, fishing and boating on the reservoir may be nice, but the pipeline is critical infrastructure for 120,000 water users.
Macy Lipkin is a Report for America corps member who reports for KUER in northern Utah.
