Central Utah Water Conservancy District deeds over water facilities to Metro and Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District

September 19, 2007

L-R: Shane Pace, LeRoy Hooton, Christine Finlinson, David Pitcher, Mike Wilson, Richard Bay and Leland Myers
On September 18, Christine Finlinson and David Pitcher from the Central Utah Water Conservancy District (CUWCD) presented a deed to the Jordan Valley Water Treatment Plant and Jordan Aqueduct Terminal Reservoir (Facilities) to the Board of Trustees of the Metropolitan Water District of Salt Lake & Sandy (MWDSLS). Earlier a similar ceremony was held with the Board of Trustees of the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District (JVWCD).

The Facilities were constructed by CUWCD at its expense with districtwide ad valorem taxes beginning in 1970 with the purchase of the land in which the facilities would occupy. At that time taxes collected in Salt Lake County were a substantial amount of CUWCD’s revenue.

In 1970 JVWCD signed a petition for 50,000 acre-feet of water from the Bonneville Unit of the Central Utah Project.  In 1986,  MWDSLS’s petition for 20,000 acre-feet of water was approved.

JVWCD operates and maintains the Facilities. The allocation of capacity to JVWCD and MWDSLS was based on the ratio of petitioned water by the districts of 5/7th and 2/7th respectively. Likewise, the operation and maintenance and capital costs are paid by the two districts at the same ratio.

Today the capacity of the Jordan Valley Water Treatment Plant is 180 million gallons per day and the storage volume in the Terminal Reservoir 100 million gallons.  The connecting Jordan Aqueduct conveys water from these Facilities to Salt Lake City at 3800 West 2100 South.

CUWCD constructed similar facilities in Utah and Duchesne counties.   

In 1993, the parties entered into an agreement that title to the Facilities would be conveyed to JVWCD and MWDSLC when the final block notice of original Central Utah Project Bonneville Unit was issued to deliver water supply from the Jordanelle Reservoir to the two Salt Lake County petitioners. This occurred in 2004.

With the title transfer the era of water development and construction of necessary conveyance and storage facilities ends 42 years after the formation of the CUWCD in 1965 and the subsequent construction of the Bonneville Unit of the Central Utah Project.