By Peri Kinder | [email protected]

An innovative project in Riverton will increase the city’s culinary water supply using a sustainable source. It will also help keep culinary water rates low in the years ahead.

A reverse osmosis purification plant on the city’s Green Well will improve the quality of water so it meets or exceeds that of the culinary water provided to the city by Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District. The water treated at the plant will supplement Riverton’s primary culinary water supply.

The project is made possible through a strategic partnership with Salt Lake County, using funds from the American Rescue Plan Act.

“With water being such a valuable resource in Utah, we are grateful to the Salt Lake County Council for their financial contribution to this project to help us increase water supply,”  Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs said.

The Salt Lake County Council appropriated $3 million in federal ARPA funds toward the project. In addition to providing roughly $2.1 million worth of existing Green Well infrastructure, the Riverton City Council has appropriated $600,000-$700,000 in ARPA funds to the plant. The partnership includes an agreement that the project will provide water to the Salt Lake County Riverbend Golf Course at a reduced rate, saving county taxpayers nearly $100,000 per year for the next 20 years.

“We are excited to partner with Riverton City on this critical water infrastructure project,” said Salt Lake County Council Chair Laurie Stringham. “This project is one of several water conserving projects funded by the Salt Lake County Council this year.”

Before the city started purchasing water from JVWCD, the Green Well produced high quality water, but it still didn’t reach the quality provided by the district. With the reverse osmosis purification plant, the city can once again tap into the Green Well to increase the city’s water supply, offering clean culinary water.

Reverse osmosis is a process that removes contaminants from water by pushing it through a semi-permeable filter using pressure. Installation of the plant begins this fall and is expected to be completed by June 2023.

Once complete, an anticipated 1,300 gallons of treated culinary water will be produced at the well per minute; more than 1.8 million gallons every day. The increased supply of culinary water will help keep water rates for Riverton residents low in the future. An external geological analysis determined the underground aquifer that feeds the Green Well has a life expectancy of more than 20 years.

“The Riverton project will add a sustainable source of water in an area of Salt Lake County seeing significant growth; freeing up thousands of additional acre feet of water for other parts of the county that desperately need additional water,” Stringham said. “Our partnership with Riverton City on this project will save county taxpayers over $2 million.”

            More information about the project can be found