Show Salt It Lake City Must Look Ahead and Plan Ahead Now on It Its Water Supply The importance of an ample supply of water to the future development of S Salt lt Lake City and the metropolitan area cannot be overemphasized In this arid country it is the very l life e blood not only of basic agriculture which dep depends on water for irrigation but it its is the life blood of commerce and industry too Lack of water could put a more effective effective effective ef ef- ef- ef barrier to our growth and progress progress progress ress than any other single factor It is isa isa a ft point which citizens and officials must constantly keep in mindIn mind In an article in Th The Telegram Friday City Water Commissioner David A. A Affleck Affleck Affleck Af Af- Af- Af fleck stressed our p present serious water situation when he hc said that our storage reservoirs resen can supply only enough water to last ast the city ity for 21 d days ys if a severe drought should dry up str stream m flow Our three reservoirs have a total capacity of only acre feet and our average daily use uEe during the summer months is acre feet A As s a pl plain d matter of fact the situation c could uld be worse than that In a severe dry a spell the water d demand mand would be considerably considerably considerably con con- greater than acre feet a aday a day Furthermore we c could Uld not risk draining our storage supplies For fire protection n sanitation and health we would be compelled to impose severe restrictions restrictions re re- re- re on the use of water wate whenever I a 8 di dry r spell compelled us to draw heavily on the water in hi the reservoirs irs I Our present water system gambles I on the weather and on water storage Inthe In hi hithe the form of snow on higher slopes of the Salt Lake City watershed Weve We've been en mighty lucky the past decade or so j but but its it's still a risky gamble gambl A spell of unseasonable warm weather in the spring could melt snow on the mountains rapidly We would have n no place in which to store the run runoff ff and the water would be wasted Our snow water storage storage storage stor stor- age would be gone Th Then n if we had a protracted dry spell in the summer we could be very short of water Of course this situation will be greatly great great- ly improved when the D Deer r Creek aqueduct aqueduct aque aque- duct is completed We will then have almost half of the storage capacity of the huge Deer Creek reservoir to depend on But even with Deer Creek the city's water wate problems are arc not completely solved This is still an arid country A dry spell of several years duration might find us still short of water Particularly Particularly Particularly Par Par- is this thin true if the anticipated industrial and population growth in Salt Lake City and this metropolitan area continues It is time Cor or City to look ahead and plan ahead W We must be sure sure- that a possible shortage of water will not deter any new industry from establishing itself here In the past we have not taken a progressive attitude as asfar asfar far as s water s supply go goes s. s We have not ot been as far vi far as many other cities have been We almost lost our chance fo for industrial development developments dur during ng the war We would have lost it if we had not had the Deer Creek project in process of construction with i its promise promise of additional addi adli- water We must not take any chance of a future bl block ck on civic gress because of failure n now w to look I ahead and see Bee ahead on wa water er supply |