See the whole program in three steps
- Read the top rowThe summary sentence and five headline figures give the statewide picture: how many projects, how many are finished, the water and labor they save, and their total cost.
- Narrow it downUse the filter bar, or click a county on the map, a bar in a chart, or a funding year. Every number and chart updates together to match.
- Look up the detailsScroll to the project table at the bottom to search, sort and open any single project's funding and water-savings details.
Everything on the page works together. When you pick something anywhere (a county, a project type, a year), every other part of the dashboard filters to match. To start over, use Clear all in the filter bar.
Header and summary sentence
The navy banner at the top names the program and holds three buttons. Under the title, one sentence sums up what you are looking at right now.
Buttons in the header
- Help guide: opens this guide.
- Questions? Contact Brian: the program contact for questions about the data.
- About this dashboard: a short overview of what the dashboard covers. It also opens on its own when you first load the dashboard; close it with Start exploring.
The summary sentence
It reads like “858 projects funded across 29 counties. 495 are complete and together save 130.1k acre-feet of water a year, with $81.5M from UDAF.” (figures from one point in time). When a filter is on, it says “(filtered)” so you always know whether you are seeing the whole state or a slice.
The filter bar
The navy bar under the header controls the whole dashboard. It stays at the top of the screen as you scroll, so you can change filters from anywhere.
The dropdowns
- Watershed: the three major watersheds (Greater Salt Lake, Upper Colorado, Lower Colorado), each with the smaller HUC6 river basins inside it. Tick a whole watershed or just the basins you want.
- County: any of Utah's 29 counties.
- Funding year: the state fiscal year the project was funded (FY2019 onward).
- Project type: the irrigation or conservation method, such as pivot, drip, canal piping or flow meter.
- Status: Project Funded, Project Started or Project Completed.
Location and dates
- Location switches between all projects, canal projects (shared delivery systems run by canal companies) and on-farm projects (equipment on an individual farm).
- Final report keeps only projects whose final report date falls between the two dates you enter. Only completed projects have a final report date, so the others drop out while this is set.
How filters combine
- Picks within one dropdown add up: Cache or Box Elder County.
- Picks across dropdowns narrow down: Cache County and FY2024 and Pivot projects.
- The number beside each option shows how many projects you would get with your other filters in place.
The Watershed, County and Project type lists have a search box. Type a few letters, such as “weber” or “drip”, to jump to the option you want.
An option showing 0 is not an error. It means no projects match that option together with your other filters. Remove a filter to widen the view.
Headline figures
Five navy tiles give the totals for whatever is currently selected. Each has an i button that opens a short card explaining exactly how the number is figured.
Funded projects
Every project that has received Water Optimization funding, at any stage. Canceled contracts are not counted.
Projects completed
Projects that are fully installed, have passed final inspection and are working. The green bar shows what share of funded projects are complete.
Total water savings
Acre-feet of diverted water saved per year. Each project's saving is its estimated use before the project minus the use measured by flow meters afterward, averaged over its annual reports (usually 1–3 years). The line below gives the average per project.
Labor hours saved
Hours spent irrigating before the projects minus the hours recorded afterward in annual reports. The line below shows both totals.
Total project cost
What it costs to build and install all selected projects, from every funding source combined. The exact figure appears below the rounded one.
Water and labor savings come from annual reports, which projects file only after they are finished. Recently funded or in-progress projects add to the project count and cost right away but don't add savings until they report. So a filter that picks mostly new projects will show high cost and low savings. That is expected, not a sign the projects aren't working.
The map
The map shades each county by how many projects it has: the darker the blue, the more projects. Hover over a county to see its exact count.
Using the map
- Click a county to filter the whole dashboard to it. Click it again, or remove its tag, to clear it.
- Zoom with the + and − buttons or your mouse wheel. Drag to move around. The house button returns to the full state.
- The layers button turns county shading and names on or off, and can show the outlines of all HUC6 river basins.
- When you pick a watershed or basin in the filter bar, its outline is drawn on the map.
Making the map bigger
- Drag the map's bottom edge to make it taller, or its right edge to make it wider.
- Drag the striped grip in the bottom-right corner to do both.
- Double-click any edge to put it back to normal size.
To protect the farms and landowners taking part, the public dashboard does not show where individual projects are. The map works at the county level, and basins are shown as outlines only.
Combine the map with other filters. For example, pick “Pivot (MESA)” as the project type, and the county shading changes to show where those projects are concentrated.
Projects by type
A bar chart of how many projects use each irrigation or conservation method, longest bar first. The number at the end of each bar is the project count.
How to use it
- Click a bar to filter the dashboard to that type. Click more bars to add types.
- The bars you picked stay bright; the rest fade, so you can still see how they compare.
- Hover over a bar for its exact count.
What the types mean
- Pivot, wheel line, handline, drip: sprinkler or drip systems that replace flood irrigation on a farm.
- Canal piping or lining, conveyance ditch: keep water from soaking away or evaporating on its way to fields.
- Meter, measurement device, telemetry: measure how much water is used, which the program requires on every project.
Who pays for projects
One bar split into three colors shows how total project cost is shared. Below it, each source's dollar amount and share of the total.
The three sources
- UDAF: grant money from the Agricultural Water Optimization Program.
- Partner: other grants, such as from the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the Bureau of Reclamation.
- Farmer: the grantee's own contribution, which can include their labor.
Questions it answers
- How much does each state dollar draw in from other sources?
- Do canal projects and on-farm projects share costs differently? Switch Location to compare.
- How has the split changed? Pick one funding year at a time.
UDAF contributions to date
When UDAF approves a grant, it obligates (commits) that money. It pays it out as the work is done and documented. This card shows what share of committed money has been paid so far, with the dollar amounts and what remains.
A low percentage paid is normal for recent years. Projects are paid as their work is done and documented, and the program holds back part of the funding until a project is finished.
Project acres by funding year
A large number at the top gives the total acres covered by the selected projects, with on-farm and canal subtotals. Below it, a column for each funding year stacks on-farm acres (green) under canal acres (blue), with the year's total on top.
How to use it
- Set Location to Canal or On farm to see only those acres. The total and the chart update together.
- Click a column to filter the whole dashboard to that funding year.
- Hover over a column to see the on-farm, canal and total acres for that year.
Reading it
- A canal project serves every field along the canal, so one canal project can cover far more land than an on-farm project.
- Compare on-farm acres with on-farm acres, and canal with canal.
The all-projects table
At the bottom of the dashboard, the table lists every project that matches your filters, with its funding year, type, county, HUC6 basin, status, final report date, acres, cost, UDAF contribution and water saved.
Find a project
- Type in the search box to find projects by type, county, basin, status or funding year.
- Click any column heading to sort by it. Click again to reverse the order. An arrow shows the current sort.
- The count beside the search box tells you how many projects are listed.
See one project
- Click a row to open that project's full details beside the map: contract status, funding from each source, payments, labor hours before and after, and water saved.
- Its county is outlined in orange on the map.
- Close the details with the × in their corner.
To find the projects saving the most water, sort by Water saved. On a phone, some columns are hidden to save space; turn your phone sideways or use a computer to see them all.
Reading the numbers well
The dashboard reports what projects have documented. A few habits help you draw fair conclusions:
- Check what is selected. Every figure reflects your current filters. Look for “(filtered)” in the summary sentence and the tags under the filter bar.
- Compare completed with completed. Savings only exist for finished projects with annual reports. To judge results, set Status to Project Completed.
- Mind the fiscal year. Funding years follow the state fiscal year, which runs July 1 to June 30. FY2025 covers July 2024 through June 2025.
- Savings are yearly averages. A project's water saving is the average across its annual reports, so it can shift as new reports arrive.
- Big projects swing totals. One large canal project can outweigh dozens of small farm projects in acres and cost. Use the table, sorted by cost or acres, to see which projects drive a total.
- Some records are incomplete. A project without a reported value is left out of that figure rather than counted as zero, and averages use only the projects that reported.
Example questions and how to answer them
What has the program done in my county?
Click your county on the map, or pick it in the County dropdown. Read the headline tiles, then scroll to the table for the project list.
How much water have Great Salt Lake basin projects saved?
In Watershed, tick Greater Salt Lake. Set Status to Project Completed, then read Total water savings.
Which methods are most popular with farms?
Set Location to On farm and look at Projects by type. The longest bars are the most common methods.
How much has UDAF paid out for last year's projects?
Pick that year in Funding year (or click its column in the acres chart), then read the UDAF contributions card.
Which projects finished last year?
Enter last year's start and end dates in Final report. The table then lists exactly those projects.
How do canal and farm projects compare on cost?
Switch Location between Canal and On farm and compare Total project cost and the funding split each time.
Glossary
- Acre-foot
- The amount of water that would cover one acre of land one foot deep: about 326,000 gallons.
- Diversion
- Water taken from a river, stream or canal for irrigation. Savings are measured as reduced diversion.
- Watershed
- All the land that drains to the same river system. The dashboard uses three major ones: Greater Salt Lake, Upper Colorado and Lower Colorado.
- HUC6 basin
- A river basin as mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey's Watershed Boundary Dataset, identified by a six-digit Hydrologic Unit Code. Each sits inside one of the major watersheds, such as the Weber or Jordan basin inside Greater Salt Lake.
- Canal project
- An improvement to a shared delivery system, usually run by a canal or irrigation company, such as piping or lining a canal.
- On-farm project
- Irrigation equipment installed on an individual farm, such as a center pivot or drip system.
- Obligated
- Grant money UDAF has formally committed to a project.
- Payments made
- Money UDAF has actually paid out to projects so far.
- Final report
- The report filed when a project is finished and inspected, completed with the project's UDAF planner.
- Annual report
- A yearly report on water use and crop production that completed projects file for three years; the source of the water and labor savings.
- Fiscal year (FY)
- Utah's budget year, July 1 to June 30, named for the year it ends.
- Pivot (MESA, LESA, LEPA)
- Center-pivot sprinklers. MESA and LESA are mid- and low-elevation spray application; LEPA is low-energy precision application. Releasing water lower and closer to the crop generally loses less to wind and evaporation.
Common questions
Why don't I see project locations on the map?
To protect participating farms and landowners, the public dashboard shows projects by county and basin only, never by exact location.
Why do the numbers change when I click on things?
Clicking a county, a bar or a column is a filter. The whole dashboard updates to match. Check the tags under the filter bar to see what is selected, and use Clear all to return to the statewide view.
Why is water saved blank or zero for some projects?
Savings come from annual reports filed after a project is finished. Projects that are funded or under construction haven't reported yet.
Why did my project count drop when I set a final report date?
Only completed projects have a final report date, so setting that filter leaves out everything still in progress.
Are canceled projects included?
No. Projects whose contracts were canceled are left out of every figure.
How current is the information?
The dashboard draws on UDAF's project records. New projects and reports appear as those records are updated.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. On a small screen the sections stack in one column and some table columns are hidden. For the full table and the side-by-side layout, use a tablet held sideways or a computer.
How do I apply for funding or submit a report?
See UDAF's Agricultural Water Optimization Program page for eligibility, cost-share rules, how to apply and how final reporting works.
Contact the program
For questions about the data on the dashboard, email the Water Optimization team: