Utah town cuts outdoor watering as supply hits critical levels

EMERY, Utah (KUTV) — A small Utah town is dealing with a water shortage that has forced families to make tough decisions about how they manage daily life.

Residents in Emery said they were given little warning before being told to shut off all outdoor watering.

“We can’t water outside at all — not using culinary water, not secondary water, not anything at all,” Laura Dixson said.

For Dixson, that announcement changed everything.

“I’ve been here 26 years, and it’s never happened. I cried. It’s our livelihood. It’s what we do. It’s how we feed our kids.”

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Dixson and her family rely on their land for food.

“We raise our own meat — pigs, goats, lambs, chickens, turkeys, ducks, rabbits. We grow our own food. We try to grow 80% of our food right here.”

But without water, that self-sufficient lifestyle is at risk. She has already had to make difficult choices, selling off animals she can no longer feed.

At a recent town meeting, officials said the water supply is in a “dire situation,” noting the town receives only about 3% of canal flow — far less than what’s needed to sustain both culinary and secondary systems. They said usage recently reached nearly 600 gallons per minute, a level they called unsustainable, prompting the decision to shut off secondary water entirely.

“A lot of people in town are angry. The farmers aren’t angry — they’re scared.”

With rising food costs, Dixson said losing her homegrown supply could hit even harder.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do for food. I guess I’ll have to buy from the store.”

She said what frustrates her most is how quickly everything changed.

“To just go from 100 to zero with no warning — I would have liked more time.”

Town officials said residents should expect water to remain tight this year and are urging conservation as they monitor supply levels.

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