OCR Text |
Show Fml Pkm mi Creek Project Expected by Wild-Summer Engineering work now underway un-derway should give the Grand County Water Conservancy District the Information needod to finalize plans on the Mill Creek Project by mid-summer, It was announced an-nounced this week by K. E. McDougaid, chairman of the District. Mr. McDougaid stated that cost differences between the Utah Division of Water Resources Re-sources and the Tt. s. Corps of Army Engineers, In preliminary pre-liminary engineering work, were not dramatically far apart, but would need to be reconciled before final decisions de-cisions on Just what the project pro-ject would consist of would be made. "We are attempting attempt-ing ln the final engineering design work to keep the costs as low as possible, without sacrificing any of the safety factors or benefits from the project," Mr. McDougaid stated. The basic project idea consisted con-sisted of a large narth-fUl dam Just above Moab Valley, Val-ley, which would contain the major storage reservoir. It also consisted ef diversion of water Into upper Spanish Valley by means of theShee-ley theShee-ley Tunnel for Irrigation purposes there. Factors which have developed during the past year have made It necessary for the District to look at some alternates to the basic plan, and It Is the engineering on these alternates al-ternates that Is now being done. "Moab City has developed develop-ed serious problems In Us culinary water supply during the past year," Mr. McDougaid, McDou-gaid, a former Moab Mayor, said. The three major City wells are producing only as much water as one good one produced a few years ago, he Indicated, and the need for the City to utilize water wa-ter out of a major storage facility In Mill Creek Canyon becomes more Important all the time, he added. In addition, ad-dition, work aimed at placing plac-ing water and sewer systems sys-tems In Spanish Valley, between be-tween Moab and the area currently being viewed as potential agricultural land, has made it necessary to view the Mill Creek Project as a means to assisting that work. Mr. McDougaid stated that two major alternates that are now being studied by engineers engin-eers are the creation of a second storage reservoir at the Sheeley Tunnel site, so that waters Impounded there could be used by gravity-flow, gravity-flow, to serve Spanish Valley Val-ley culinary needs. One alternate al-ternate would place the seo-one seo-one reservoir ln Spanish Valley, and the other In Mill Creek Canyon. "If we serve Spanish Valley Val-ley from the Plalnfleld (lower) (lo-wer) Reservoir site, It will require pumping the water uphill," Mr. McDougaid stated. sta-ted. The former Mayor said that the Corps of Army Engineers En-gineers are still committed to sharing In the project ln the amount of 35 to 40 per cent of the total cost. Inflation has pushed basic cost figures to almost double dou-ble what they were several years ago when planning work began, he said, but the project still appears feasible. feas-ible. The State of Utah has committed $1 million In an Interest free loan as participation par-ticipation In the project. Other agencies that have been involved ln basic planning, plan-ning, and which would be called on to share ln the total funding package are the Economic Development Administration, Soil Conservation Con-servation Service and the Four Corners Regional Development De-velopment Administration. "The balance of the remaining re-maining cost would have to be picked up locally," Mr. McDougaid said, "and that could run as high as 20 per cent of the total cost,'' he Indicated. A method of financing fin-ancing that local share would have to be determined after all other avenues of financing finan-cing had been followed out. Mr. McDougaid stated that preliminary work on an environmental en-vironmental impact statement state-ment had already been started. start-ed. John Hoffman, local historical his-torical researcher, has been retained to do a basic environmental en-vironmental Inventory of the canyon system, and that work will be completed, early In May. Mr. Hoffman made a progress report on the project pro-ject to the Committee last week. , |