Draper asks Suncrest and Utah County residents to conserve water through Friday

Draper City asked residents of Suncrest and its Utah County neighborhoods to watch their water use from Tuesday, Oct. 20, through Friday, Oct. 23, while crews work on the next phase of the water system along Traverse Ridge Road 1. Water service is expected to continue normally and no shutoff is planned, but the city said outages are possible if use runs high during the work 12.

"While water service will continue as normal, we ask residents in the Suncrest and Utah County neighborhoods of Draper to be aware of water usage and conserve wherever possible during this period to help us avoid any outages," the city said in a post on X on Monday, Oct. 19, as reported by the Draper Herald 2. The city did not specify which conservation measures it is asking for 2.

The line under construction carries all of the water used in the SunCrest area and the Utah County portion of Draper, according to an earlier phase notice published through the city's Notify Draper alert service 6. Draper's 2025 water conservation plan puts that ground in Zone 3, the zone that runs along the top of Traverse Mountain and down the south slope into Utah County, where water is pumped from Zone 2 in stages from the lower zone 3.

Earlier phases of the same project were run the same way. A previous phase notice said work would be done in stages "to avoid having to shut off water service for residents," and that traffic on Traverse Ridge Road would be restricted to one lane in each direction on the downhill side while the phase ran 6. The same notice put flaggers at the SunCrest Drive, Traverse Ridge and Deer Ridge intersection and directed one-way traffic on Deer Ridge from about 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. while water was shut down 6.

Draper's system is smaller than the city's population suggests, and it is unusual in shape. The city covers about 30 square miles from the Salt Lake County valley floor up and over Traverse Mountain into northern Utah County, and it is served by two separate drinking water systems, the city's own and WaterPro's 3. Draper City's system was estimated to serve 23,205 people, roughly 45% of the city's 51,560 residents, on 3,871 residential and 335 commercial, industrial and institutional connections counted in calendar 2024 3. Total water used in the system in 2024, including lost water, was 4,297.97 acre-feet 3.

The city buys 100% of its drinking water wholesale from the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District through master meters, and it has no secondary or pressurized irrigation system; every connection is metered 3. Its 2024 use was 165 gallons per capita per day, against a city goal of 183 and a Salt Lake regional goal of 187 for 2030 3. The city's usage was 244 gallons per capita per day in 2000, when the 25% reduction goal was set, and unexplained system losses averaged 10% over the last five years, with 8.2% in 2024 3.

Draper's general plan records the same constraint. The Water Use and Preservation Element, added as Chapter 7 by Ordinance #1694 on Dec. 2, 2025, states that the Draper City service area "requires additional pumps and transmission lines in the foothill region of Suncrest Drive to ensure supply in the event of a source failure or emergency," a need it attributes to the city's 2025 Drinking Water Master Plan 5. The element lists "limited redundancy" among the city's water planning challenges and projects demand rising from 6,540 acre-feet a year to 13,450 by 2060 against an existing source capacity of 4,560 acre-feet a year 5.

The capital projects for that ground appear in the state's own rankings. The Utah Division of Drinking Water's fiscal 2027 agency plan, part of the state's Unified Water Infrastructure Plan, carries seven Draper City drinking water projects in its provisional project rankings, at a combined estimated cost of $60.5 million 4. They include Redundant Supply to Suncrest, at an estimated $24 million with a state funding cost of $4.8 million, Upper Traverse Ridge at $3.5 million, Deer Ridge Drive to Tank 4 at $3 million, PS 1 and 2 to PS 3 at $14 million, PRV Replacements at $12 million, Pump Station 3 at $2 million, and the WaterPro Traverse Interconnect at $2 million 4. The plan ranks and scores applications for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund; being listed there is a ranking, not an award 4.

Draper's conservation plan was filed with the state in December 2025 and covers 2026 through 2030, after the City Council adopted it by Resolution #25-72 3. It commits the city to four programs over that period: wastewater reuse with partner agencies, advanced metering infrastructure and leak detection, joint public awareness work, and monitoring through a water conservation coordinator 3.

Construction on the current phase is scheduled to end Friday, Oct. 23 12.