Now about that 'creek' running through City Creek...

Salt Lake City is constantly trying to work the daylighting of City Creek into its planning, says Tom Ward, deputy director of the city's Department of Public Utilities, but in the heart of downtown Salt Lake, he agrees "it makes more sense to create the facsimile. To do otherwise would be quite expensive and somewhat impractical."

He points out that the water that runs along North Temple in front of the LDS Conference Center isn't the actual City Creek either.

But Ward's a positive person and he paints a positive spin.

"Loosely speaking, you could say it is City Creek," he says. "The water comes from the City Creek watershed. It first fell on the mountain and then went into the city water supply. It's all from the same original source."

Still, no matter how you spin it, the stream at City Creek isn't City Creek.

A river doesn't run through it; tap water runs through it.

Lee Benson's About Utah column runs Monday and Friday.

Email: benson@desnews.com