Good news for Utah Lake

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[#800080][url "http://www.harktheherald.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=17877&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0"]Utah Lake System project would bring water, pipelines to county[/url][/#800080]
Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - 12:00 AM
N.S. Nokkentved THE DAILY HERALD [url "http://www.harktheherald.com/print.php?sid=17877"][/url] | [url "http://www.harktheherald.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Recommend_Us&file=index&req=FriendSend&sid=17877"][/url]

Federal officials have released a study of the potential environmental effects of a project to move water from the Strawberry Reservoir to Utah Lake, Salt Lake County and southern Utah County cities.

The $615 million project also would bring 58 miles of new water pipelines to several southern Utah County cities. [url "http://adserver.harktheherald.com/adclick.php?n=a4616ee2"][/url] It would deliver 15,800 acre-feet in addition to the 86,100 acre-feet of water coming from Strawberry Reservoir to Utah and Salt Lake counties.

The project will provide enough water to help southern Utah County cities meet water needs through 2050, said Mark Breitenbach, project manager with the Central Utah Water Conservancy District.

Known officially as the Utah Lake Drainage Basin Water Delivery System -- Utah Lake System for short -- it would complete the Bonneville Unit of the Central Utah Project, which started in 1956 to bring Colorado River water to the Wasatch Front.

A draft environmental impact statement was released Monday by the federal Bureau of Reclamation, the Central Utah Water Conservancy District and the Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission.

A public comment period is open until June 11 and public hearings are planned.

The project will be paid for with about $400 million in federal funds and about $215 million from the conservancy district, which gets most of its money from local property taxes and some conservation funds, Breitenbach said.

The Utah Lake System, when complete, will deliver a total of 101,900 acre-feet to the Wasatch Front.

To distribute the water, the
project calls for five new pipelines up to 7 feet in diameter, including seven miles of pipe from the Spanish Fork flow control structure to Spanish Fork; 5.7 miles from Spanish Fork to Hobble Creek; 17.5 miles from Spanish Fork to Santaquin; 7.7 miles from Santaquin to Mona; and 19.7 miles from Spanish Fork to the Provo Reservoir Canal.

Officials expect the 57.6 miles of new pipeline to be completed by 2015.

The Utah Lake System, when complete, would deliver water from Strawberry Reservoir once destined for alfalfa farmers in eastern Juab County that instead would go to municipal use in Salt Lake County and for outdoor watering in south Utah County.

About 30,000 acre-feet would flow to communities in southern Utah County for secondary irrigation systems, and 1,590 acre-feet would go for municipal use there.

Another 40,310 acre-feet would flow into Utah Lake as an exchange for water now stored in Jordanelle Reservoir for use in Salt Lake County.

Some of the water would flow down the Spanish Fork River, and some would be piped to Hobble Creek, Provo River and Mona Reservoir to benefit June sucker habitat.

In addition, Salt Lake County would get 30,000 acre-feet through a pipeline from Spanish Fork Canyon to the Provo Reservoir Canal.

An acre-foot of water is about 326,000 gallons, enough to supply an average family for one year.

The project also includes two hydroelectric projects -- one 45 megawatt project at the Sixth Water Flow Control Structure and a 5-megawatt project at the Upper Diamond Fork flow control structure.


[i]N.S. Nokkentved can be
reached at 344-2930 or at nnokkentved@heraldextra.com.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.[/i]

Want to get involved?

A public hearing on the environmental impact statement will be at 5 p.m. on April 29 at the Veterans Memorial Building, 386 North Main St. in Spanish Fork. Another hearing will be at 5 p.m. April 28 at the Sandy City Hall.

Information about the Utah Lake Drainage Basin Water Delivery System is available on the Internet at www.cuwcd.com. The draft impact statement is available at libraries in Provo, Orem, Spanish Fork, Springville, Payson, Brigham Young University and Utah Valley State College. For information contact Laurie Barnett at 801-226-7133.

Send written comments on the impact statement by June 11 to: Project Manager Mark Breitenbach, Central Utah Water Conservancy District, 335 West University Parkway, Orem, UT 84058-7303.This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1.

From the following URL on the Daily Herald:

[url "http://www.harktheherald.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=17877&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0"]http://www.harktheherald.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=17877&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0[/url]
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[ocean]

WOW all those words gave me a headache! So is it a good thing or bad?And can some of the fish in strawberry get into some of those waters?
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[Shrimpboy]

Not likely....they already pump a lot of water from Strawberry over into the Diamond Fork area. From the sounds of this it will only be more.
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[Out4Trout]

[:/]So, correct me if I'm wrong here, but this doesn't sound that good for Strawberry. Hope they leave enough water in there for the Cutthroats.
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[Shrimpboy]

Strawberry should be fine. For many many years now Utah has not used all of the water that it has right to in the Colorado River watershed. It has just let the water go downstream to California and other water hungry states (of course they charged them for it...or at least tried to). But, now the Wasatch Front has grown to the point that the water is needed here. They'll just send more water into the Berry through the pipeline (what you see coming out of the mountain at the ladders) instead of just sending it downstream.
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[FlyFishingMoose]

OK so answer me this:

When will Utah begin claiming it full ration from the Colorado River and begin to curtail California's abuse of the river. As I undersdtand it now California is using the allotment of water meant for the other western states which at this time do not use. When does the tap close to stop the abuse of the colorado river for which california has been benefiting from. The other western atates are growing when can they claim their water up to theri full alotments.
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[Shrimpboy]

I couldn't tell you when the tap will be shut off for California. It seems like they threaten to do it every year, but California promises that it will make needed changes...then nothing seems to happen.
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[Kayote]

Tightline,

This shouldn't impact the Strawberry River too much. The CUP guaranteed minimum flows for the Strawberry as part of the deal. The damage to the Basin streams was done when the deal was originally sealed. So, it's bad for the Strawberry already, but it won't get worse. The CUP has dewatered the Berry, Rock Creek, Currant Creek, Lake Fork, and the Duchesne. But it must be a good thing if all the lawns on the Front are green. Yeah, right.

Sarcastic Kayote
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[Coldfooter]

"[size 1]CUP guaranteed". Well a guaranty is only as good as those that right it and a guaranty can change faster than the wide like a limited warranty.. And thats all I's gots to says bout that.. [/size]
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