Weber Basin outlines $80 million pipeline project to bolster Wasatch Front water resiliency

Scott Paxman, general manager and CEO of the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District, said the district is moving forward with an $80,000,000 pipeline replacement and augmentation project intended to improve drinking-water resiliency on the Wasatch Front.

Paxman said the project will replace about a 2.5-mile section with a 7-foot-diameter pipeline and stressed the public-safety rationale: "in the case that we do have an earthquake, that pipe moves and ruptures at any point, we can still supply drinking water at the very minimum to a population of about 350,000 people in in Davis County," he said. "It's an $80,000,000 project."

The presentation established the district's geographic scope: Paxman said the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District serves communities across five counties in northern Utah and wholesales drinking water to most communities in Davis, Weber, Morgan and Summit counties. He characterized the pipeline as central to the "lifeblood" of water supply along the Wasatch Front and said adding redundancy will improve system resilience.

Paxman thanked unspecified partners who, he said, are helping to get the project "off and running," but he did not provide details in this statement about funding sources, construction timeline, permitting milestones or the specific partners involved. Those details were not specified in the presentation.

The district presented the project scope and resilience goals but did not record a vote, funding authorization, or precise schedule in the remarks provided. Paxman said the work is underway and emphasized the planned resiliency benefits for communities served by the district.