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Show MAY 1995 Despite Genius of C-U-P Utah’s Water Resources May Run Out By Christopher Smart [ s July 24, statistically the users mark, the below 15 relaper- cent None prising, of that, of course, because semi-arid area, Utah a is sur- exists desert. in But a what you wouldn't expect from those geographical facts, is that on the hottest and driest day of the year, water would be flowing freely, with seem- ing abandon, down walkways, ters and streets, as though Utah anything but a desert Expansive lawns Bluegrass water in of gutwas Kentucky and sprinklers shooting the summer heat are as much Salt Lake trademarks as is Temple Square or Mount Olympus. And it’s litthe wonder, because water is still quite inexpensive here - about what you’d expect to spend in in rain- soaked Seattle, but only about onethird what a Los Angeles resident would pay. But the fact is, Utah water is lim- “Tf, through conservation, you reach 10 percent reduction... . you’ve got to build that into your rate structure.” — David Ovard General Manager Salt Lake County Water rest of us: Second home owners around the shores of Bear Lake re miffed much down the Bear River for cultural needs lake agriThe has level dropped during the past decade leaving boat docks dry high and Meanwhile, farmers along the Bear are fighting to # keep their fields from drying up. At the same time, fly fishermen have been fighting to keep stream flows up in the Provo drainage would have been plentiful if Salt Lake City had been located River, somewhere to allow trout thrive. But against increasing demand Wasatch that along populations flow is matched municipal the to water burgeoning Front. The Desert Shall Bloom When Brigham Young said he would make the desert blossom some 147 years ago, he could not have imagined that water would be as plentiful in Salt Lake City as it is today. he Mormon prophet understood that snow on the high peaks surrounding the Valley of the Great Salt Lake ited and in the coming decade could begin to run short. That is something that hasn’t and probably won’t creep into the public’s mind soon, because ironically, conservation may be seen as toO expensive to mention, and because Utah water law does not encourage conservation — two reasons that seem completely at odds with the arid environment. In some areas outside Salt Lake City, including Park City and western into that too is being water pumped down short supply already — a fact that could slow or stifle booming development there. But it may be the disputes between recreationalists and water for the snow County, water is coming EE areas foretell the future Conservancy District Summit other SY of the state that may hottest day of the year in Salt Lake City. At mid-day the temperature climbs above the 90-degree tive humidity drops BTR would, in canyon time, melt streams. The — nature’s and run melting time released water — would be perfect for irrigating the dry basin below throughout the hot, summer growing season. But what Brigham Young probably didn’t guess is that some clever Utahns would, 100 years after his arrival here, devise a way to bring water bound for the Colorado River all the way to the Salt Lake Valley; that snow melting on peaks in the Uinta Mountains would be used for watering golf courses over 100 miles away. “Brigham Young came too far,” says former U.S. Sen. Jake Garn in a joking fashion. Garn explained that water flowing to the Uinta Basin and Colorado PAGE near Duchesne Or be full for two or three more years, but already this year it will deliver 20,000 acre-feet Salt lions of dollars, residents will, ironically, pay more per gallon, say representatives from Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County water districts. Development of new water Utah for short. The numerous and is known Project, CUP dams, or as the “C”-”U”-’P,” is made up of reservoirs, aque- ducts, pipelines and tunnels that hold and ingeniously channel water from streams in the Uinta Mountains and its drainage — the Uinta Basin — into another drainage system altogether — the Great Basin — all the way to the Wasatch Front. The Jordanelle Dam, on the Provo River north of Heber Valley, completed three years ago, is the latest and perhaps the last large segment of CUP. And although it is 20 years late coming on line, it is com- ing just in time. Its reservoir will not 10 Water to the Lake Central County of water Vernal. Bringing that Colorado River water all the way over to the Wasatch Front is a “remarkable feat,” he said. Garn, a former mayor of Salt Lake City, became a water commissioner for that municipality in 1967 and spent the next 25 years - most of his political career — helping to develop water projects in Utah, including Little Dell Dam. The former Utah senator is credited with making the Jordanelle Dam a reality when the federal Bureau of Reclamation and Congress sought to halt large, western water projects in the 1980s. The feat of engineering that brings Colorado River water here, cost U.S. taxpayers billions and bil- Conservancy District. By the turn of the century, Salt Lake County will be receiving 50,000 acre-feet from the Jordanelle - about 15 percent of the CUP’s annual flow. But water demand will require four times that by the time Salt Lake Valley is built out, 15 years hence. Conservation Catch-22 Salt Lake County will never get more that it’s 15 percent-share of the CUP. The question then: where will additional water for new growth come from? Conservation? Probably not. y using less water, Wasatch sources, like Little Dell Front Dam in Parleys Canyon or the Jordanelle, are costly. Debts from projects like those are paid by the sale of water. Conserving water translates to less income for local water districts. And that means that debt payments can’t be met, unless water fees are hiked. Until now, that is why the “C”word has not been given lip service in the Wasatch Front’s exploding residential water districts. “It’s a difficult thing, but it’s the |