“Hallelujah,” Henefer Mayor Kay Richins said at a meeting with other county mayors June 1.
“About seven or eight years, you've heard me talk about secondary water, secondary water,” he said. “We've, finally got secondary water.”
Secondary, or “raw,” water is for outdoor irrigation or fire suppression. That’s as opposed to culinary water treated for drinking.
Henefer’s town website says it officially turned on the secondary water system May 15.
It diverts water from the Weber River — just south of the Main Street exit off Interstate 84 — and pumps it up past the town cemetery to a storage reservoir.
Since it’s untreated, the water is only for lawns, gardens and agriculture. The town says that will help save its drinking water supply, especially in a year short on snow.
“It’ll prove to be extremely beneficial,” Richins said. “This year's showing how important it is, because if we had to rely upon our culinary system again, there may be no outdoor watering. Who knows?”
Water scarcity led Henefer to pause all new water hookups in May 2018. That effectively halted new development for six years, until the town was close to finishing the secondary water system.
Oakley instituted a similar restriction between 2021 and 2023. Henefer began allowing new water hookups again in late 2024.
In a town with little more than 800 people, the mayor says at least 100 homes are now connected to secondary water to date.
