BOUNTIFUL—As dry conditions continue with some of the hottest days and peak demand for water ahead, Bountiful City implemented water restrictions to the outdoor use of culinary water for irrigation or other purposes starting July 31, 2025 to April 15, 2026. 

“Aquifer levels are dropping,” said Kraig Christensen, Water Department Director at the July 22 Bountiful City Council meeting. “The demand is up from previous years.”

Lloyd (Cheney, City Engineer) did some figures and actually found in May, 7.9% more use than the previous six years and June was 16.6% higher use than the last previous six years, he said. “So a lot more water is being used.”

This actually comes at a time when South Davis put out a mailer that said that their irrigation use was 19% higher than previous years also, said Christensen. “So the water is getting used, which is great, you know, that’s what we want to do is provide the water but there are also the cutbacks to where you start getting air in the line and ruining equipment if you’re constantly pumping and getting that aquifer down.”

Governor Cox just came out too and said that he was asking for everybody to watch what they’re doing with laundry and they’re monitoring throughout the state as well, he said. 

“Watering restrictions should be as uniform as possible throughout the city,” said Christensen. “High priority areas such as Town Square, those areas that get a lot of foot traffic on the grass there, those areas should still be watered to help save costs on replacing sod in areas like that.”

Private conservation by all will allow public benefit for all, he said. “Each jurisdiction will enforce its own restrictions. We’ve got to make sure that we communicate these restrictions to the public, to the residents of Bountiful.”

Christensen detailed some of the restrictions for the Council, “Use of culinary water for outdoor watering is prohibited where irrigation water is provided by a third party. So that would be like Bountiful Irrigation. Outdoor watering is prohibited between 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. to maintain the storage levels in our culinary reservoirs.”

Each week no watering on Wednesdays would be allowed, he said. “That allows the system to actually catch up to keep the reservoir full and have the wells shut off. Then they can get some regeneration and not get that cascading or just sucking air by watering only three times a week.”

Hand watering is allowed one time per week, with a maximum flow rate of five gallons per minute for established trees and shrubs, said Christensen. “Rinsing and washing of sidewalks, driveways, patios or impervious surfaces is not permitted.”

Bountiful parks and city facilities are permitted to use a small amount of water to prevent permanent damage to the turf, he said. “The golf course can water the tee boxes, greens and fairways to keep those areas nice and then spot watering on everything else.”

There are some enforcement actions, Christensen said. “First offense is a written verbal report. The second offense is a $100 fine. The third offense is $250. The fourth offense is $500 and the fifth offense is $1,000. These will all be put on the utility bill. The water service will be terminated until the fine is paid.”

“I already made the adjustment on my watering in my yard,” said Councilmember Matt Murri. “I look at it now more as I’m just going to do my part to preserve the water. Whether it’s coming from Weber Water Basin or our culinary, the thing that drove me to make the change was the fire.”

The fire is part of it, he said. “If the LA fires didn’t wake your senses to how valuable water is in a time of tragedy like the fires, then I don’t know what else we can do. Because if the aquifers are dry and our wells are dry and the firemen above Bountiful Boulevard cannot pull water to fight a house fire that they experienced years ago – that’s a problem.”

The council approved the Proclamation Declaring Scarcity of Water and adopted modifications to the use of culinary water for the period of July 31, 2025 through April 15, 2026.

For more information about water restrictions go to https://www.bountifulutah.gov/.