Despite snow, officials say Utah still in drought

WASHINGTON — While Utah saw more snow this year, officials say it still is in a drought — for the fifth year in a row. Not only could summer supplies again be a problem, the long drought is quickly becoming maybe the worst in a century.

In fact soils are so parched and reservoir levels so low throughout the West from four years of drought that "if we simply have nothing but normal conditions, it will take 15 to 20 years to rebuild the (natural water) system" to average levels, said Assistant Interior Secretary Bennett Raley.

In testimony before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Raley and other top federal forecasters and water managers painted a bleak picture about not only this summer's outlook from the drought but predicted that growth in the West is so fast that soon much it will face water crises in even normal years.

"Some indicators of drought depict the current multiyear drought as one of the most severe in the past 40 to 100 years, comparable to the severe droughts in the 1950s and 1930s," said Louis Uccellini, director of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction.

He said it feels even worse than those in part because growth in the West and new demands for water — such maintaining river levels to protect endangered species — have put even more demand on what water is available.

"Reservoirs remain significantly below normal in every Western state except California. As of March 1, four states — Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Oregon — report storage at or below 50 percent of normal," Uccellini said.

He said officials expect that reduced amounts will be available for agriculture this year. "Illustrating the difficult decisions these water managers face, as of January 31, Colorado River Basin water storage stood at 68 percent of normal, with Lake Powell in Utah at just 57 percent of storage" — the lowest ever since it was filled, he said.

He said some areas have a deficit of more than 20 inches of precipitation over recent years — or the equivalent of an entire year's rainfall.

Floyd Gaibler, deputy undersecretary of Agriculture, said most of the Rocky Mountain states are in "extreme drought," but worse, " 'exceptional drought' is affecting southeastern Idaho and southwestern Montana, a small portion of southwest Wyoming, a small portion of northeast Utah and parts of southern Utah."