S.L. canyon may get a water line

Irene Sweeney has been waiting nearly 40 years for a basic service most homeowners expect.

The 91-year-old thought her Emigration Canyon home would be hooked up to a water line way back in 1968. For years, she's been using water that runs to her house from a well, and her home has a greater risk of fire damage because there are no hydrants nearby.

Now, community planners want homeowners to back a plan to pump water through a section of the canyon. The water line would run from the mouth of Killyon Canyon to Skycrest Circle.

Emigration homeowners have long feared a water line would attract too many new neighbors, and that thwarted Sweeney's past efforts lobbying for a better water source.

But development in the canyon has increased in recent years, and the Emigration Improvement District now wants to consider a water line. Homeowners have until Tuesday to sign up for the water-line connection and can hear more about the $2.4 million project at a 7 p.m. public hearing today at Camp Kostopulos, 2500 E. Emigration Canyon.

"I will be signing up for a connection," Sweeney said. "I've been living up here for a long time, and we've needed that water line for a long time."

The line would serve at least 175 homes in Emigration Canyon at a cost of about $15,000 per home, said district manager Fred Smolka.

To date, the only fire protection in the neighborhood is tank trucks and a hope and a prayer, Sweeney said. The proposed water line would provide a fire hydrant within about 250 feet of every home.

"There is no fire protection that amounts to anything up here," Sweeney said. "It used to be when the fire started, the house was gone."

Smolka said the proposed system would also alleviate health concerns. According to a handout the district gave homeowners, Emigration Creek is the "most polluted stream on the Wasatch Front by far."

"I don't mean that as a scare tactic," Smolka said. "You might be getting bad water out of your well. The (new) water is basically pure and usable."

Not everyone in the neighborhood is fully on board with the plan. Resident Gary Bowen said he's concerned that costs could skyrocket.