Salt Lake County Flood Control and Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities, in coordination with the State Engineer’s Office of the Utah Division of Water Rights, are implementing standard operational controls regarding flows within the Jordan River and Surplus Canal.
The operational controls consist of opening the headgate at Utah Lake tomorrow, Friday, February 14th to allow water to be released from Utah Lake into the Jordan River. The Jordan River will carry these increased flows from Utah Lake to the Surplus Canal located on the Jordan River at 2100 South.
The Surplus Canal is a flood control facility operated by Salt Lake County, ultimately conveying water to Farmington Bay. The reason for the operational increase in flows to the Jordan River and Surplus Canal is to accommodate higher than average snowpack and higher than average lake and reservoir levels in Utah Lake, Deer Creek Reservoir, and Jordanelle Reservoir.
As a result of this operation, flows in the Surplus Canal and portions of the Jordan River will be higher than normal for this time of year but will not be at levels typically seen during spring run-off.
The Jordan River north of 2100 South in Salt Lake City is not expected to experience higher flows. The Jordan River south of 2100 South will experience higher flows. The cities affected by flows along the Jordan River are the following:
- Bluffdale
- Murray
- Riverton
- Taylorsville
- Draper
- Millcreek
- South Jordan
- West Valley City
- Sandy
- South Salt Lake
- West Jordan
- Salt Lake City
- Midvale
- Unincorporated Salt Lake County