With the risk of flooding from the spring runoff coming to an end, many Utah locations are working to make sure residents and others who used sandbags can get rid of them safely.
Draper resident Ashley Jensen says she has about 40 sandbags gathered from the previous months when flooding was a serious concern following the record-breaking snowfall Utah experienced over the winter.
"They add up really quickly," she said.
Sandbags have lined up on the sidewalk outside her home for about two months, with others along Willow Springs Lane becoming a common site.
"We'd had the issues earlier in the year, in January and February with lots of flooding along [a nearby] creek," Jensen explained.
Despite the snowfall and runoff, Jensen says her home was spared from any flooding.
"So relieved, so happy," she said. "Best case scenario, right? And any effort that was put into this, well worth it for the peace of mind."
Kade Moncur, the flood director for Salt Lake County says an abundance of sandbags were used this year.
"My best guess would be in the area of 350,000 to 500,000 sandbags that were placed," he believes.
The county has come up with a plan to help people dispose of the sandbags by opening eight staging locations across seven cities where residents will be able to drop off their sandbags.
"We don't want you to overfill like your residential trash can. We don't want it put back in the creeks, so most of the garbage trucks really cannot pick up a garbage can that's filled with 50-60 sandbags, so that's where we're trying to avoid," Moncur said.
While residents like Jensen have enjoyed the peace of mind the sandbags provided, she says she will be making sure to dispose of them properly when the time comes.
"We just exacerbate the problem if we go and dump them all into the streams that have just been cleared up and, you know, the creeks and, and plug them up again, so, yeah, it's important to dispose of them correctly."
