Metropolitan Water District of Salt Lake & Sandy petition for Central Utah Project Utah Lake Drainage Basin Water Delivery System (ULS)
Petition will provide 8,600 acre-feet of addition water supply for Salt Lake City and Sandy City
LeRoy W. Hooton, Jr.
September 30, 2004
Introduction
On September 20, 2004 the Metropolitan Water District of Salt Lake & Sandy inked a petition with the Central Utah Water Conservancy District (CUWCD) for water from the Utah Lake Drainage Basin Water Delivery System (ULS). The petition is for the perpetual annual allotment of 8,600 acre feet of ULS Project Water.
ULS is the final component of the Bonneville Unit of Central Utah Project. The ULS planning area includes the Wasatch Front from Nephi in the south to Salt Lake City in the north. The goals of ULS are to develop, convey and deliver the remaining Bonneville Unit water supply for municipal and industrial (M&I) uses and temporary agriculture use along the Wasatch Front. The water for the ULS will be provided by a portion of the transbasin diversion of 101,900 acre-feet of water from Strawberry Reservoir and by the exchange of Central Utah Water Conservancy District (CUWCD) water rights in Utah Lake. Included is completion of environmental commitments associated with previously constructed CUP systems.
Water supplied under the originally conceived I&D System was planned for only southern Utah and Juab Counties. However, at the urging of the Utah Board of Water Resources in 1967, the Bonneville Unit Definite Plan Report was amended to provide 36,000 acre-feet of water annually for supplemental irrigation in the SevierBasin. It became part of the I&D System, delivering water as far south as the Sevier Bridge Reservoir on the Sevier River for use in the Delta area. In 1992, Congress passed the Central Utah Project Completion Act (CUPCA) requiring 35 percent cost sharing, water conservation and environmental mitigation. Ultimately, in 1995 Sevier and Millard Counties withdrew from the CUWCD changing the I&D project. The SFN System project was substituted, taking water only as far south as Nephi. This project was opposed by some political and environmental interests. In 1998 the SFN System was discontinued, and in 2000 pursuant to CUPCA a new planning process was initiated on the ULS.
Salt Lake City’s Interest in CUP
Salt Lake City has been part of the Central Utah Project (CUP) since its inception in 1965. The City’s participation in CUP has been critical to its formation and on-going financial strength. Salt Lake City’s service area tax payers have paid approximately $100 million ($214 million present worth) in property taxes to the CUWCD. Additionally Salt Lake City conveyed two 1928 priority date 50 cubic feet per second water right filings on the Duchesne River and Rock Creek to the United States. These two filings were prior to and in conflict with filings made by the United States. Salt Lake City agreed to assign the two applications for a commitment from the United States and CUWCD to allocate at least 9,000 acre-feet of Bonneville Unit M&I water to the City.
In 1977 Salt Lake City requested that the Metropolitan Water District of Salt Lake City MWDSLC petition 20,000 acre-feet of CUP Bonneville Unit M&I System water to meet the City’s future water supply needs. In 1986, the petition agreement was approved with block notices in 4,000 acre-foot increments issued beginning in 2004 and continuing over a 5 year period until the entire 20,000 acre-foot petition is fulfilled.
The CUP Bonneville M&I System consists of facilities to provide M&I water supply to Salt Lake, Utah and Wasatch Counties and supplemental irrigation water to Wasatch and Summit Counties. The M&I System collects waters tributary to the Duchesne River in the Uinta Basin to facilitate a transbasin diversion from the Colorado River Basin to the Bonneville Basin. Key features of the Bonneville Unit M&I System are the 1) collection system, 2) enlarged Strawberry Reservoir, 3) Syar Tunnel and Diamond Fork System, and 4) Jordanelle Reservoir. Waters that otherwise would flow to the Green River, then to the Colorado River, are collected in a series of dams and conveyed by aqueducts for storage in Strawberry Reservoir. The transbasin diversion of 107,500 acre-feet annually is accomplished by conveying water from Strawberry Reservoir through the Syar Tunnel into the Diamond Fork System situated within the Bonneville Basin. The water is further conveyed into Utah Lake and other diversions, to replace water stored on the Provo River in Jordanelle Reservoir. The M&I System was completed in 1993.
ULS System Water Supply Allocation
The ULS scoping meetings were held early in 2002 to present water delivery concepts to the public. Based on these public meetings and additional population and engineering analysis, five alternatives were developed for consideration. These five alternatives were later reduced to three alternatives for Environmental Impact Statement. On March 25, 2004 the draft statement was published with three alternatives: 1) Spanish Fork Canyon-Provo Reservoir Canal Alternative (Preferred Alternative); Bonneville Unit Water Alternative; and 3) No Action Alternative.
The Spanish Fork Canyon-Provo Reservoir Canal Alternative (Preferred Alternative) would provide for an average transbasin diversion of 101,900 acre-feet, which consists of a delivery of 30,000 acre-feet of M&I water for secondary use to southern Utah County and 30,000 acre-feet of M&I water to Salt Lake County water treatment plants; 1,590 acre-feet of M&I water already contracted to southern Utah County cities, and 40,310 acre-feet of M&I water to Utah Lake for exchange to Jordanelle Reservoir. The 30,000 acre-feet (less the water returned to DOI under Section 207 Program) of M&I water utilized in southern Utah County will be used in the cities’ secondary water systems. ULS facilities include a flow control structure on the Diamond Fork pipeline and a pipeline from the Spanish Fork River to the mouth of Provo Canyon and the Provo Reservoir Canal. The Provo Reservoir Canal would convey the water to northern Utah County and Salt Lake County.
The 30,000 acre-feet made available to Salt Lake County water treatment plants will be allocated between the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District (JVWCD) and MWDSLS. The two water districts have agreed on a 5/7th and 2/7th allocation of the water respectively. This will provide MWDSL&S 8,600 acre-feet of ULS water supply. Before this water becomes available, it may take years to gain federal approvals and construct necessary facilities.