Bulletin Board
Deer Creek Dam Testing
Bureau of Reclamation studies 59 year old dam
August 18, 2000
Reclamation constructed Deer Creek dam between 1938 and 1941. The structure stands 235 feet high from bedrock and 155 feet above the stream bed. The dam
extends 1,300 feet between the canyon walls at the crest level. It is 1,000 feet wide at the base and 35 feet wide at the highway level. The dam was constructed with
3,000,000 cubic yards of earth and rock. When filled, Deer Creek Reservoir holds 152,000 acre-feet of water. At the time of construction it was the third largest earth-fill dam built by Reclamation. The water supply for the reservoir comes from diversions on the Weber and Duchesne Rivers and surplus flows in the Provo River. The Weber River diversion
water is conveyed via the Weber-Provo River Canal across the Kamas Bench and the Duchesne diversion water through the transbasin Duchesne Tunnel to the Provo
River drainage. At the base of the dam is the Deer Creek powerplant owned by Reclamation and operated by PRWUA under contract with Reclamation. Other
features of the project include the Murdock diversion works at the mouth of Provo Canyon and the Provo Reservoir Canal that conveys project water to shareholders in Utah and Salt Lake Counties. The Metropolitan Water District of Salt Lake and Sandy (“District’) is the majority shareholder in the project with 61,700 of the 100,000 shares, which normally
provides 61,700 acre-feet of water supply on an annual basis. The District provides M&I water to its member cities, Salt Lake City and Sandy City, and
surplus water to the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District. Deer Creek dam is the fourth dam studied within the state of Utah. So far Lost Creek, Pine View, and Echo dams have been studied. According to Denos,
Reclamation is doing the subsurface exploration work to make sure the foundation is stable based on modern modeling technology. The modeling will determine if the
dam structure can withstand a major seismic event. Denos notes that there is no known problem with the dam structure. “Deer Creek is classified as a high hazard
dam because of the large population situated downstream from the reservoir. The current drilling work will provide the necessary information to ensure the dam’s safety,” exclaims Denos. Planning is underway to widen US 189 in Provo Canyon. The dam may see additional fill to
accommodate this project, changing its appearance to the thousands of
travelers who pass this Reclamation project.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (“Reclamation”) is near completion of subsurface drilling and coring work on Deer Creek Dam located
in Provo Canyon, Utah (US Highway 189), southeast of Heber City. “The work is part of the
Reclamation’s Safety of Existing Dams Program,” says G. Keith Denos, General Manager of the Provo River Water Users Association (“PRWUA”), sponsor of the 1935 Provo River Project that includes
the dam. The final report is due later this year. “Reclamation began the work in the fall of 1998 and expected it to be completed the next year, but the work carried over an additional year,” adds
Denos.
Drilling rig at work at Deer Creek Dam. The
powerhouse is in the background and the overflow
channel to the right.
Completed in 1941, the dam and reservoir provide water to shareholders in Utah and Salt Lake Counties.