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Bulletin Board Spiro Tunnel Water: The Leaky Barrel February 24, 2000
Water was first intercepted in the tunnel 2,765 feet from the portal on April 13, 1917. A month and one-half later on May 27, the flow was measured at 0.88 cubic feet per second (cfs). Once water was encountered, the local farmers questioned if the water was developed water, or if the tunnel was intercepting water that fed springs that furnished them irrigation water. By 1928, litigation was underway to resolve the matter (Silver King Coalition Mines Company v. Sutton, et al.). The Third District Court in Summit County ruled in favor of the mining company that “…all the waters flowing from the Spiro Tunnel, with the exception of the flow encountered at station 27+65, are in no way tributary to the [farmer’s] springs…but constitute newly developed water and belongs to the plaintiff [mining company]. The defendants [farmers] were awarded the water developed in the first 6,600 feet of the tunnel. On January 31, 1930 the suit was appealed to the Utah Supreme Court. The Court decreed the farmers the water developed in the first 6,600 feet of the tunnel. The Court also ruled “that the District Court retain jurisdiction, and to have an engineer and court commission make flow measurements for the years 1935 and 1936.” Once the measurements were completed, either party could address the court for modification of the decree. In July 1934, Salt Lake City Mayor Louis Marcus initiated a study to prepare an estimate of the cost to bring the water from the portal of the Spiro Tunnel to Mt. Dell reservoir in Parleys Canyon. At that time the flow from the tunnel was approximately 17 cfs. City Engineer, W. B. Beers, prepared a plan to construct a 30-inch pipeline from the portal, a distance of 52,450 feet, to a 4,200 foot tunnel driven through the Parleys Summit divide, then 14,800 feet of 16-inch pipe to the junction of Lambs and Parleys Creeks. The total estimated cost to convey the water from Spiro Tunnel to Mt. Dell reservoir in Parleys Canyon was $556,767. Apparently Mayor Marcus had entered into negotiations with SKCMC to purchase the water flowing from the tunnel. In 1935, Water Commissioner George Keyser continued the investigation. However, the investigation was terminated when objections and threats of litigation were voiced by water right owners in the Weber Basin drainage. Salt Lake City continued to measure the flows from Spiro Tunnel and numerous other sites in Big Cottonwood Canyon for many years. Ultimately, the City became convinced that the water flowing from the Spiro Tunnel was really its water. Flow data showed that the flows in Big Cottonwood were reduced, compared to the normal flow of other streams, and as the flow from the Spiro Tunnel increased, the flow from Big Cottonwood Creek decreased. On February 18, 1964, Salt Lake City filed an action against SKCMC’s successor (Salt Lake City v. United Park City Mines) claiming that the tunnel had intercepted water from the Big Cottonwood Canyon drainage. The trial held in the Third District Court produced more than 3,000 pages of files and transcripts in addition to 176 exhibits. The court entered 156 pages of findings and prepared a memorandum decision of 143 pages plus a 20-page appendix. The lead attorney for Salt Lake City was Joseph Novak. He relied on two expert witnesses, John Ward and Professor Ray Marsell who prepared models and exhibits to prove their point. The following was contained in the Supreme Court’s Findings of Fact: “John Ward, who certainly qualifies as an expert in this field, expressed the opinion that there has been an unnatural decrease of between 12–15 cfs at the mouth of Big Cottonwood Creek….expressed the opinion that 90 percent of Spiro flow is Big Cottonwood water, …” “Professor Marsell, who likewise clearly qualifies as an expert in this field, expressed the opinion that 90 percent of the water coming out of the 143 drift has its origin in the ground water reservoir which, if not intercepted by the drift, would have had an opportunity to contribute to the flow in Big Cottonwood, as would waters from the 137 cross cut north of the Crescent fault and that pumped from the West End Shaft. (The 143 drift, 137 cross cut, and West End Shaft referred to above are the main sources of the Spiro Tunnel flow). Professor Marsell's "leaky barrel" concept as the source of the waters of Spiro Tunnel flow has more basis in logic and reason than does the "deep flow from the east" concept testified to by defendant's witnesses." Despite the trial evidence, the judge ruled in favor of United Park City Mines Company based on his own computer model that used a double mass curve to compare variance in comparative stream flows. This would ultimately lead to a reversal of the judge's decision. According to the Supreme Court, “The computer gave the judge a slope not in accord with the evidence given by the experts; yet he used this slope to decide that the exhibits of the City were in error, and therefore, the City had not sustained its burden of showing an unnatural decrease in the flow of the waters of Big Cottonwood Creek since the driving of Spiro Tunnel.” On November 22, 1972, the Supreme Court reversed the findings and judgment of the lower court. In its decision the Court noted that inasmuch as the reversal was due to the impropriety of the methods used in the lower court, “the case be remanded with direction that a new trial be had upon all of the issues.” Approximately 1-1/2 years later, on April 8, 1974 the issue was settled out of court. In the settlement, Salt Lake City acquired 60 percent of the water flowing in the Spiro Tunnel at a point within the mine, 6,600 feet from the portal. The flow at this point averages about 7.5 cubic feet per second. Inasmuch as the water flowing from the Spiro Tunnel discharged into the Weber Basin drainage, Salt Lake City had no way of conveying it directly to the Wasatch Front. The earlier considered pipeline from the Spiro Tunnel portal to Parleys Canyon was reconsidered, but the idea was discarded as an option.
On June 21, 1993 Salt Lake City exchanged 40 percent (1,500 acre-feet) of its Spiro Tunnel water for an equal amount of water in the Ontario Tunnel, moving the water right to the Utah Lake and Jordan River Drainage where it could be used along the Wasatch Front. The Ontario Tunnel water flows through Jordanelle Reservoir, through Heber City into Deer Creek Reservoir, then down the Provo River into Utah Lake. On November 27, 1995 a Change Application was filed with the State Engineer to change the point of diversion and nature of use to points that could divert water to Salt Lake City. The Change Application was approved on July 22, 1998. So, water that once traveled a short distance of about 15 miles to the intake of Salt Lake City's Big Cottonwood Conduit at the mouth of the canyon, now makes about a 75 mile journey by exchange, from Park City to the Ontario Tunnel, to the Provo River system, to Salt Lake City. Like the old Bugs Bunny cartoons, Bugs would burrow under the carrot field and gather the carrots by pulling them from below the earth to the bewilderment of Elmer Fudd; likewise, the Spiro Tunnel burrowed under the mountain, draining away precious water from Salt Lake City. Or as Professor Marsell described it in court, the tunnel gathered the water from beneath the “leaky barrel.” It took 35 years of flow measurements to find the lost water, but ultimately it was found. It took another 25 years to bring it back to Salt Lake City. Selected References In the Supreme Court of the State of Utah, Salt Lake City v. United Park City Mines Company, No. 11948, Filed November 22, 1972. November 25, 1935 Letter Report from W. B. Beers, City Engineer to Robert B. Auerbach, Chairman, Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Water District of Salt Lake City. Questions regarding this article can be directed to: leroy.hooton@ci.slc.ut.us
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