A sprinkler runs at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City on Thursday, July 7, 2022. (Kristin Murphy/Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Board of Water Resources signed off on almost $200 million in grants yesterday — all to be used to build secondary water meters across the state.
The funds for the grants come from H.B.0242, which was signed into law earlier this year by Gov. Spencer Cox.
Secondary water is untreated water used for irrigation. It’s most commonly used for yards and farms.
More than half of the state’s secondary systems are unmetered right now, which means water officials have no idea how much water is getting used. There are about 260,000 secondary water connections in Utah.
The $190 million in grants will add meters to more than half of the currently unmetered secondary water connections over the next few years.
The Utah Division of Water Resources estimated that 114,000 new meters would be installed.
Director of the Utah Division of Water Resources Candice Hasenyager called it a “historic day” when the funds were approved.