DNR's watering guide for the week of September 24. Photo: Utah Department of Natural Resources

SUMMIT COUNTY, Utah — In their extreme drought water guide for the week of September 24 through 30, the Utah Division of Natural Resources (DNR) listed Summit County as the only county in the state that shouldn’t be watering.

“One of the factors we look at when calculating how many days a week to water is “ET” — which stands for evapotranspiration, which is the sum of evaporation from the land surface plus transpiration from plants (or lawn in the case of the Lawn Watering Guide). ET varies across the diverse regions of the state and with each season. This is why our efforts focus on spring and fall as the times of the year when we can save the most water (in the heat of summer, the weather doesn’t vary much),” said DNR Communications Director Kim Wells in an email to Townlift.

“The ET need for Summit County is less than a half-inch. With freezing temperatures and precipitation in the forecast, we recommend zero waterings for next week. With temperatures dropping, the northern part of the state will likely follow suit next week.”