{"id":536624,"date":"2026-03-21T11:39:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T11:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/536624\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T11:39:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T11:39:16","slug":"salt-lake-issues-stage-2-drought-response-after-record-setting-dry-winter-early-runoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/536624\/","title":{"rendered":"Salt Lake issues &#8216;Stage 2&#8217; drought response after record-setting dry winter, early runoff"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall issued a &#8220;Stage 2 Drought Advisory&#8221; for the first time since October 2022, following a record-setting dry winter and early spring runoff. <\/p>\n<p>Under the drought advisory, the city called for the reduction of 10 million gallons of water per day. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Salt Lake City has always shown resilience in the face of challenges, and this moment is no different,&#8221; said Mayor Mendenhall. &#8220;By taking thoughtful steps now, we can protect our water supply for the months ahead and potentially avoid more severe restrictions later. I&#8217;m asking every resident and business to be part of the solution.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>City facilities and government institutions would be required to stay within their irrigation-only meter budgets and reduce indoor water use by 10%. Meanwhile, residents and local businesses are encouraged to delay outdoor watering until early May and to check on sprinkler systems and any indoor leaks. <\/p>\n<p>The advisory comes as the Salt Lake region&#8217;s snowpack sits at 54% of average for this time of year. City leaders said the current overall water supply level is &#8220;good,&#8221; but the low snowpack, combined with a record-setting early spring heat wave, has raised concerns.<\/p>\n<p>Laura Briefer, the director of the Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities, said even with the strong reservoir storage, Salt Lakers need to &#8220;act now.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Saving water today helps ensure reliability for our community and contributes to the long-term sustainability of the Great Salt Lake,&#8221; said Briefer. <\/p>\n<p>_____<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall issued a &#8220;Stage 2 Drought Advisory&#8221; for the first time since October&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":536625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-536624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=536624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/536625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}