Welcome - WEF Operation & Maintenance Conference Salt Lake City, Utah - Salt Palace Conference Center August 1, 1999

Posted October 27, 1999

LeRoy W. Hooton, Jr.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it's my pleasure to welcome you to Salt Lake City.  On behalf of Mayor Corradini, the City Council and the employees of Salt Lake City Corp., I hope that you enjoy your stay here and have an interesting and productive WEF conference on collection systems.

As most of you are probably from different parts of the country, I'd like to take a few moments to talk about water in this region of the United States.

Water is vital to us in the west and particularly in Utah.

Utah is the second driest state in the nation with a statewide annual precipitation of 13 inches, with very little of this falling during the summer growing season.

Because water is so scarce, we do everything possible to acquire water, protect its quality and use it wisely.

Water availability affects demographics. The state of Utah is the 12th largest state with 82,000 square miles, but about 80 % of the state's population resides on about 5 percent of the land along a narrow strip abutting the Wasatch Mountain Range-- where the water is available.    

Mormon Pioneers led by Brigham Young settled the Salt Lake valley 152 years ago.  The pioneers were seeking a sanctuary --and they found it on the edge of the Great American Desert and next to the Wasatch Mountains.

They were a 1000 miles from the nearest settlements, surrounded by what most then believed to be almost impassable desert.

Jim Bridger, mountain man and trapper encountered the pioneers in route to the Salt Lake Valley.  He had traveled through the area and believed that it could not be inhabited because of the arid conditions and short growing season.  Bridger offered Brigham Young $10 for the first ear of corn that matured in this arid wasteland.  He was proved wrong and lost the bet.

The Pioneers overcame the desert by being the first Anglo-Saxons to successfully use artificial irrigation in America.

Diverting the mountain streams onto the fields the Pioneer's conquer the desert.  Using the same irrigation principles, over 360 colonies were established within the Great Basin from Canada on the North to Mexico on the south.

The reason the pioneers could settle this area, and the reason the Wasatch Front is continuing to grow today is the Wasatch Mountain Range directly east of us and farther to the east the Uinta mountains. With mountains peaks rising to over 13,000 feet in elevation these watersheds receive up to 60-inches or more of water in the form of snow.

The snowpack melts in the spring and is diverted into water treatment plants, or onto cultivated fields sustaining both people and crops.

Dams and reservoirs store the high spring flows for use later in the summer months.

Salt Lake City is a beautiful city.  Much of the greenery you see is a result of irrigation.

The pioneer's success with artificial irrigation would later have even a greater impact on the nation by contributing to federal legislation to reclaim the 17 Western states, west of the 100th meridian.  In 1902, Congress passed the Reclamation Act, resulting in federal construction of irrigation projects spanning nearly a century.  The BOR has constructed dams and conveyance systems to provide electrical power, drinking water and irrigation water to millions of western Americans.  The significance of this is that reclaiming the west has help make the United States the richest and strongest nations in the world.

In the future conservation, secondary water systems and reclaimed wastewater will be needed to continue the growth within the Wasatch Front and state.

I do need to mention an anomaly in this arid place.  Situated north of us is the Great Salt Lake, a dead sea, covering 2,000 square miles and containing 28 million acre-feet of water, it dominates the desert landscape, but its water contain up to 25 % salt brine, and is rendered unusable for most purposes.

Lastly, I 'd like to comment on the importance of your work in collecting and treating wastewater.

Salt Lake City first began constructing its sewer collection system in 1889 and its 56-mgd wastewater treatment plant in 1965.  I'm proud of the employees who operate and maintain Salt Lake City's collection and treatment system.

They as you, play an important part in protecting America's environment and the health of its inhabitants.

If it were not for your work, the excellent heath and long life expectancy we enjoy would not be possible.  We live longer and healthier lives because, in part to your efforts.  Good sanitation and the removal of pathogens from our environment certainly contribute in no small way to this aspect of our lives.

Likewise, the quality of our nation's water depends on your good work.

And I hope that what you learn here this week will help you in doing this very important work.

In closing, again welcome to Salt Lake City.  Please enjoy your stay and have a great conference.  And remember as you view our magnificent mountains, that this is where we, in this, the second driest state obtain our vital water supply.

Thank You.