Snowpack in the Western United States

Millions of Americans depend on snowpack for drinking water and management of these resources. Different scenarios of snowpack conditions in the Western United States, mainly dependent on annual precipitation and temperature conditions, are valuable for water utilities assessing the reliability of snowpack. EPA's  Water Infrastructure and Cyber Resilience Division  offers assistance to communities interested in these assessments to strengthen the resilience of their water supplies. 

Case Studies

Scroll through the case studies below to learn more about how utilities have begun planning for more reliable water supplies from snowpack.

Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District, Utah

The Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District (JVWCD) provides drinking water and wholesale water services to about 700,000 people in the Salt Lake County area of Utah. JVWCD currently delivers approximately 90% of its municipal water to cities and water districts on a wholesale basis, with the other 10% being delivered to unincorporated regions of the county. JVWCD is principally concerned with the impacts of drought conditions and water quality degradation issues. The district is concerned that an increased incidence of drought-like conditions will decrease the quantity of snowpack, leading to water quality, supply, and demand issues within its wholesale and retail service areas.

Washington County Water Conservancy District, Utah

The Washington County Water Conservancy District (WCWCD) provides drinking water services to 175,000 customers in the southwest region of Utah. WCWCD is concerned that potential flood events could affect their water quality and that drought events may reduce the amount of snowpack in the region, which they rely on heavily as part of their current drinking water source. WCWCD is taking measures to protect their water supply from drought and improve their overall resilience by offering landscape water audits to help residents better understand their water use and by providing rebates to users who upgrade their irrigation equipment (e.g., use smart timers). Based on an assessment conducted with the assistance of EPA’s Water Infrastructure and Cyber Resilience Division, the county has evaluated the performance and costs of several additional strategies to manage supply under these scenarios and begun infrastructure and financial planning to make cost-effective investments.

California Water Service, California

The California Water (Cal Water) Service’s Chico district is responsible for providing water to Chico residents via 68 wells, 373 miles of pipeline, eight storage tanks, and nine booster pumps. This infrastructure supplies an average of 27 million gallons of water per day, primarily sourced from Sierra Nevada mountain snowpack, to 94,000 residents. With assistance from EPA’s Water Infrastructure and Cyber Resilience Division, Cal Water began addressing their concern over drought and reduced Sierra Nevada snowpack by evaluating options to supplement their supply with groundwater sources to meet future demand.

Clackamas River Water Providers

The Clackamas River Water Providers (CRWP) is made up of nine municipal water providers who source their water from the Clackamas River and provide drinking water for over 300,000 residents in the Portland Metro Area. CRWP member utilities rely on seasonal snowpack melt and precipitation to supply water to customers, as they have limited access to stored water. In recent years, the Clackamas River Watershed has experienced an increased frequency of drought, creating complications with managing CRWP’s water supply. CRWP has implemented several measures to make itself more resilient to drought, such as a voluntary conservation program and an alternative water supply study. CRWP used EPA’s Water Infrastructure and Cyber Resilience Division technical assistance to evaluate six additional strategies to further address drought impacts.

Snowpack Data Explorer

More Information

The data provided in this StoryMap is just one resource for informing assessments of the reliability of water supplies dependent on snowpack. You can access more information on snowpack from the resources below: