Congratulations Draper City and WaterPro/Draper Irrigation Company for receiving an award from the Rural Water Association. The award recognizes the efforts to improve the water quality in the Corner Canyon watershed.
Draper City and WaterPro/Draper Irrigation worked to protect our precious drinking water through changing some of the dog rules in the watershed. You may recall the year before last the city had a serious issue with “dog poop” bacteria in the water i.e. E. Coli. The levels were so high they could not be accurately measured. Well now the bacteria level has dropped to a treatable level. Thank you Draper residents for putting your dogs on leashes, picking up their waste and keeping your dogs out of the restricted watershed area in Corner Canyon. Clean drinkable water is your reward. Keep up the good work.
The Corner Canyon watershed above Draper has historically been a popular recreation area for local residents and their dogs. As Draper’s population grew, the E. Coli counts in the watershed were increasing 10-20% per year until the water was not drinkable unless it was blended with cleaner water.
WaterPro/Draper Irrigation tried to address the problem with signage and education telling residents to keep their dogs leashed and away from the stream, but this had little effect.
WaterPro/Draper Irrigation asked for help from Draper City. They involved the Salt Lake County Board of Health and the Utah Division of Water Quality to clarify definitions and rules, and to testify to the Draper City Council about the importance of protecting the watershed. With the strong support of Mayor Troy Walker, the Draper City Council passed an ordinance banning dogs from Corner Canyon. Since then, the E. coli counts have dropped to almost 1/3 of what they were at their highest. The water from Corner Canyon is now high enough quality that it can be used for drinking water.
A thank you goes out to WaterPro employees Paige Wolfe and Ray Kasteller for their diligent work in gathering water samples for testing.