As the mayor of Providence Walter U. Fuhriman (center) was an important figure in the transition from privately-owned culinary water system to a municipal water system. Fuhriman was a professor at the Utah Agricultural College at the time.

Apparently the transition in structural terms was not too intimidating, because the target date set for completion was only six months after soliciting bids for construction.[115]  The city would not meet this deadline. The municipal water system was not completed until August 1939, a little less than a year after the vote.[116]  Overseeing this project was Mayor Walter Fuhriman, a 43-year-old Providence native, a son of the first president of the Blacksmith Fork Irrigation Company, and a professor at the Utah Agricultural College (Utah State University).[117]  He had recently become mayor due to the death of his predecessor, J. Austin Frank, from a heart condition.[118]  Fuhriman was well-qualified for the task, and upon its completion he resigned to become an Agricultural Economist for the Federal Bureau of Agricultural Economics.[119]

The “key” to the new city-operated water system was the obtaining of rights to a water source that flowed reliably year-round.[120]  While the Blacksmith Fork River was one possibility, the ideal source appeared to be a spring owned by the Spring Creek Water Company.[121]  The city obtained water rights to the Upper Blacksmith Fork Canal, controlled by the Providence-Blacksmith Fork Irrigation Company.[122]  They then used these rights to bargain with the Spring Creek Water Company for rights to their year-round spring.[123]  The city’s goal was to obtain full ownership of the spring, but Spring Creek’s shareholders decided against that, and only provided water rights to the city in exchange for water rights to the Upper Blacksmith Fork Canal.[124]  The city and the companies had to work closely with one another to resolve conflicts and negotiate maintenance costs.[125]

As for the culinary water companies, their services were no longer necessary. The city purchased them all for $21,100.[126]  The era of the privatized domestic water supply was over.