CORINNE, Utah – The Great Salt Lake commissioner says two years of great water have put the Great Salt Lake in a much better position than it will be in 2022.

He says that water conservation has also become an increasing focus.

On Tuesday, FOX 13 News was able to tour a county, business and farm in Corinne that are using water-saving techniques.

Perennial Favorites in Layton is a wholesale plant distributor. Preston Cox, the founder and owner, said they grow 1.2 million plants annually.

As concerns about water usage in their nursery grew, they decided to make a change two years ago.

“We installed a concrete catch basin that all the drains are connected to. When the basin fills up, there are some floats floating in there. When the water level is too high, you say, ‘OK, turn on the pump,’ and it sucks the water out of the catch basin and sends it through a filtration system,” said Cort Cox of Perennial Favorites. “Each of these tanks holds 5,000 gallons, so we have three of them – about 15,000 gallons total.”

Cort said they have invested $50,000 in their water reclamation project and will reuse water in about 50,000 of their facilities.

“During our growing season, which runs from April to October, we collect and reuse between 10 and 15 million gallons of water. We think that’s a really big deal for us, our community and the Great Salt Lake,” Cort said.

Joel Ferry is the executive director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources.

“We had to be really smart about how we use water,” Ferry said.

He says his family has been running a ranch in Corinne for 125 years.

“Since implementing the federal agricultural optimization program several years ago, we have seen amazing results in saving water and increasing water supply to these areas,” Ferry said.

He told FOX 13 News on Tuesday that we are in the midst of one of the driest, hottest summers on record. Despite these efforts, however, water can still be diverted back into the Bear River, he says.

“The water you see is going directly into the Bear River, which eventually flows back into the Great Salt Lake. So on the ground, we’re seeing results, we’re seeing the benefit,” Ferry said. “We can still grow really good crops and have enough water to put that water back into the Great Salt Lake.”

John Parry, deputy general manager of the Webin Basin Conservancy District, explained how the water release from the Willard Bay Reservoir works.

“We take water from the Weber River, move it about 11 miles through what’s called the Willard Canal and put it into the Willard Bay Reservoir. From there, we can then release the water into the Great Salt Lake either for flood control or other conservation purposes. This is a joint effort that we are involved in,” Parry said.

Parry says the reservoir will be used as a retention basin to store water and release it strategically, including via the Willard Spur into the Great Salt Lake.

Great Salt Lake Commissioner Brian Steed says the state is making major efforts to conserve more water.

“We as a state have turned things around. I don’t think we’re quite where we need to be yet, but we’re certainly making progress in the right direction to get the water where it needs to go, into the Great Salt Lake,” Steed said.

This article was published by the Great Salt Lake Collaborative, a solutions-focused journalism initiative that brings together news, education and media organizations to inform people about the Great Salt Lake’s plight – and what can be done to make a change before it’s too late. Read all of our stories at www.greatsaltlakenews.org.