MANTI—In Sanpete County, water does not begin at a tap, a meter, or a city council meeting.
It begins as snow on the mountains.

That simple fact has shaped farming, town growth and household water use for generations. It also explains why one bad snow year can move quickly from the high country into hay fields, irrigation schedules, city budgets, building permits and utility bills.

“Our reservoir is the snow on the mountain,” Utah State University Extension agent Matt Palmer told the Sanpete Messenger in 2021.

This spring, the mountain reservoir failed early.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service reported that snowpack in the San Pitch River Basin stood at 0% of median April 1, compared with 91% at the same time last year, according to the agency’s April 1 Utah Water Supply Outlook Report. March precipitation reached only 33% of normal, bringing October-through-March precipitation to 73% of median.

The Lower Sevier Basin, which includes the Sevier River near Gunnison, also measured 0% of median snowpack April 1. NRCS forecast the Sevier River near Gunnison at 61% of normal and placed the basin’s Surface Water Supply Index in the 2nd percentile.

Statewide, NRCS said Utah’s April 1 snowpack was the lowest ever recorded in measurements dating back to 1930.

Those numbers sound technical. In Sanpete County, they become practical fast.

Cities have begun putting the numbers into watering schedules, public notices, and conservation rules as the 2026 outdoor watering season begins.

Mt. Pleasant City announced a watering schedule effective April 15. Under the schedule, even-numbered addresses may water Mondays and Wednesdays. Odd-numbered addresses may water Tuesdays and Thursdays. Residents may water from 6 to 10 a.m. or from 6 to 10 p.m., but not both. The city notice says there is no watering Friday, Saturday, or Sunday and “absolutely no watering on weekends.”

Manti City issued an Outdoor Watering Forecast for 2026, with measures in effect beginning April 1. The city told residents to reduce garden size, plant grass at their own risk, use xeriscaping and water-wise plantings, avoid watering in windy conditions, and stop watering drier areas instead of watering an entire lawn.

The Manti notice limits sprinkling to between 8 p.m. and 9 a.m. and says there should be no daytime watering. It also asks residents to decrease water use, shorten sprinkler clock settings and reduce lawn watering to one or two times per week, with no more than one-half inch of water applied during each watering.

Manti also advised residents to use a cycle-and-soak method by splitting watering time into two or three cycles to prevent runoff. The city told residents to raise mower decks for longer grass, adjust sprinklers so water does not run into streets, repair leaks and broken sprinkler heads, use rain events by shutting systems off and keep trees alive with deep watering once per week during summer months.

The Manti notice also says supplemental water costs from city well pumping will be passed on to users.

Moroni City released its 2026 irrigation watering schedule April 14. The city posted an updated map dividing the community into watering zones and told residents to identify their zone and follow the assigned days and hours. The notice says all residents, schools, churches, and businesses must follow the schedule. It also says all previous variances are void and that there will be no exceptions.

In a public post, Moroni City said Utah is experiencing the lowest snowpack levels seen in decades, with mountain reservoirs sitting at record lows. Because Moroni relies heavily on spring runoff, the city said conservation is “a necessity for our community.”

Moroni urged residents to water only during designated hours, make sure systems start and stop within the proper window, check for leaks, avoid watering pavement and “help us make every drop count.”

“We all need to work together to ensure there is enough water to last through the heat of the summer,” the city said in the post.
The new notices add detail to discussions that have already appeared in city meeting records around the county.

In Centerfield, officials discussed drought water rates March 4 rather than a watering ban. Approved minutes say the city could charge $5 per 1,000 gallons over a 6,000-gallon allotment once emergency pumping begins. The purpose, according to the minutes, would be to recover the increased cost of running pumps when secondary water runs out.

In Wales, April 7 council discussion went a different direction. The town discussed a conservation message, but the proposed wording said no water restrictions were in place at that time and that restrictions could come later if conditions worsened.

Fairview also scheduled a water conservation meeting for 6:30 p.m. April 28 at the Fairview City Building. The meeting was set to include guest speakers Josh Zimmerman, water conservation coordinator with the Utah Division of Natural Resources, and Shelby Cooley, water conservation manager. A flyer for the meeting said Sanpete County is experiencing severe to extreme drought conditions and said the discussion would cover current conditions, ways to save water and programs available to help residents.

The details differ by town, but the theme is the same: Communities are trying to manage uncertainty before taps, ditches and tanks force the issue.

A look into the Messenger archive shows that Sanpete County has lived through this chain reaction before.

In May 2018, the Messenger reported that county reservoir levels were the lowest since the summer of 1978. The San Pitch River Basin snowpack stood at 8% of normal that spring, projected spring, and summer water stood at 59% of average and reservoir storage stood at 9% of capacity, according to the article, which cited NRCS.

The impact reached the Gunnison Valley quickly. Norman Jensen, a large farmer there, told the Messenger that Gunnison Irrigation Co. reservoirs held 6,500 acre-feet, far below their 23,000-acre-foot capacity. He expected Gunnison Reservoir to empty by June 10, 2018, leaving only one hay crop that year.

Alan Dyreng, president of Gunnison Irrigation Co., said at that time he expected half the normal crop and half the normal income.

By December 2018, the Messenger reported that San Pitch reservoirs were “bone dry,” holding 0% of capacity for the second straight year.

The pattern repeated in 2021. That summer, Spring City and Horseshoe Irrigation called an emergency drought meeting. The Messenger reported that the U.S. Drought Monitor showed all of Sanpete County in exceptional drought. Horseshoe Irrigation President Randy Strate told residents Oak Creek and Canal Creek were producing less than 6 cubic feet per second combined. Normally, he said, the figure would exceed 100 cubic feet per second.

Even as cities move through another dry spring with watering limits, conservation notices and public meetings, Sanpete County’s larger water debate is still focused on preparation.

The long-discussed Gooseberry Narrows proposal remains part of that conversation. The project has been debated for decades as a viable way to store water from Gooseberry Creek for use in Sanpete County. This year, the Legislature moved the issue forward as a study rather than a construction project, keeping the focus on feasibility, costs and the requirements tied to a possible dam, reservoir, and related state park development.

The proposal also shows how complicated water planning can become in rural Utah. Supporters see additional storage as a way to help protect farms, towns, and future growth during dry years. Critics have raised concerns because Gooseberry Creek also feeds toward the Price River drainage, making the project part of a broader regional water dispute.

For now, no single project will solve the immediate problem facing local communities this summer. The work is more practical and immediate: limit outdoor watering, repair leaks, manage pressure, stretch existing supplies, hold conservation meetings and plan for emergency pumping where needed.

But the dry spring has sharpened the long-term question facing the county. Sanpete County is trying to keep agriculture, homes and future growth supplied in a place where much of the water still depends on mountain snow that has become harder to count on.