SLC.gov

March 24, 2026

Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall issued the following statement ahead of tonight’s Salt Lake City Council meeting.

“Yesterday I transmitted a proposal to the Salt Lake City Council to update Title 17 and Title 21A of the Salt Lake City Code, which pertain to daily water allowances for nonresidential uses.

New large water users are particularly problematic due to Salt Lake City’s worsening drought conditions and water conservation needs, which we are already taking action to address. Just last week, I directed Salt Lake City and our entire service area to move to Stage 2 of our Water Shortage Contingency Plan. 

As Mayor, a primary responsibility I have is to ensure residents have access to clean water, reliable utilities, and safe infrastructure.

Put simply, a potential high-occupancy facility interferes with those needs. While we lack direct information from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, a 7,500-person detention facility on our City’s west side would likely use 1-2 million gallons of water per day. By comparison, the warehouse recently purchased previously used about 5,600 gallons daily.

Should they be approved, these water usage updates would enact tighter restrictions on all government entities, ensuring that the amount of water new commercial and industrial developments can use is in line with our City’s capacity.”