Water projects boost seismic readiness

A recently completed $250 million project will keep water flowing through the tap even after an earthquake.

Well, at least that's the plan. Now, if one or two aqueducts in the Metropolitan Water District are damaged in a disaster, the third aqueduct can pick up the slack. The project connects all major valley aqueducts, which operated independently in the past.

"Because of the projects, we could have two sources of water go down and still be able to supply water to residents without even having to modify their use," said Shane Pace, Sandy's public utilities director.

The project is the Metropolitan Water District's "most significant water project in the past 50 years," said Mike Wilson, general manager of the water district of the Metropolitan Water District of Salt Lake and Sandy.

By connecting "the backbone of our water system" to aqueducts across the valley, "we've got a lot more flexibility and a lot more options to redirect water," Wilson said. "It's not foolproof. We may not be able to have full system demands being delivered. The chance is we'll be able to meet basic sanitation needs and good clean drinking water."

"If the Salt Lake City Aqueduct went down and we couldn't deliver water to our capital city we would be in an emergency state," said LeRoy Hooton, Salt Lake City's public utilities director. "The Metro Water Project provides invaluable redundancy to the valley's water delivery system."

A new aqueduct at the Point of the Mountain and improved infrastructure at a water treatment facility at Little Cottonwood Creek, will increase water flows by 70 million gallons a day through the water district's pipes, enough to pump water to 500,000 valley residents.

The network of water treatment facilities and pipelines took eight years of planning and three years of work.

With the new infrastructure in place, water district officials believe they can meet the current and future water needs of Sandy and Salt Lake City.

Water officials estimate that by 2025, Salt Lake City's water service area will have an additional 100,000 residents, and Sandy could have 30,000 new residents.

"This virtually invisible network of water infrastructure ensures we have safe, reliable, quality drinking water," Wilson said. "We've planned for the future and built for the future to utilize our resources in the best way we can."

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