Updated November 1, 2026

From Wasatch snowmelt to Salt Lake City taps

Salt Lake City draws much of its water from the canyons just above town. The Department of Public Utilities serves the city and parts of Millcreek, Holladay, Cottonwood Heights and nearby communities from a mix of sources that changes with the seasons.

Four creeks and several backups

The main sources are City Creek, Parleys Creek, Big Cottonwood Creek and Little Cottonwood Creek, all in protected watersheds in the Wasatch Range. Behind them are deep wells and springs, plus treated water from two wholesalers:

• the Metropolitan Water District of Salt Lake & Sandy, which draws from the Provo, Duchesne and Weber rivers and stores water in Jordanelle and Deer Creek reservoirs
• the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District

Canyon water is valuable, so SLCDPU runs a Watershed Management Plan with regional partners. That's why some canyon trails restrict dogs and swimming.

Hardness at each plant

Every source is hard, and some wells are extremely hard. Water heaters, kettles and dishwashers scale quickly here, and many SLC homes run softeners. Size yours for summer conditions, not spring runoff, using our softener size calculator. Convert any number from a test strip with the hardness converter.

Other results

• Sodium ranged from 6 ppm at City Creek to 63.4 ppm at the highest well.
• Sulfate went as high as 214 ppm in groundwater, which the report attributes partly to road deicing runoff.
• Arsenic was not detected at the city's plants and reached at most 1.2 ppb in wells and wholesale water (limit 10).
• Nitrate peaked at 4.35 ppm in wells (limit 10).

Fluoride ends in Utah

Utah's House Bill 81 banned adding fluoride to public water systems from May 7, 2025, and SLCDPU stopped that spring. Before then, treated plant water carried roughly 0.27–0.32 ppm. Families who relied on fluoridated tap water may want to ask a dentist about toothpaste strength or supplements.

Lead testing

The 2024 triennial round sampled 53 homes. SLC reports both first-liter and fifth-liter results. The fifth liter shows water that sat in the service line instead of the faucet. Lead 90th percentiles were 2.6 ppb (first liter) and 2.2 ppb (fifth liter). No first-liter sample and one fifth-liter sample was above the action level. Copper 90th percentiles were 302 and 218.9 ppb. The city is also rebuilding the City Creek Water Treatment Plant with partial federal funding. When finished, it may provide up to 16 million gallons a day.