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Show ! i Cotnp Nowo Filo Box 6310 ! to byld-maimage wafier profeeH: A nuijor step toward construction of the loriK iiwaitcd Mill Creek Project was taken Monday when the Grand County Commission set wheels in motion to create a special service water district which would be empowered to finance, construct, maintain and manage the massive project. Notice of Intention to Establish the Grand County Special Service Water District was issued by the Commission in a resolution approved Monday. It details the powers of such a district, and sets Monday, July 18 as the date for a public In aring on creation of such a district. The special service water district, which would have the power to impose fees and charges for water service; and to levy taxes for the purpose of operational expenses or retirement of leht; could also issue bonds to finance construction of improvements. It would encompass all of Grand County, with the exception of the small portions now currently covered by water improvement districts in Thompson and Elxin.' The main purpose of the district would be to call for a bond election where voters would decide whether or not to borrow funding for the creation of a 100 acre reservoir in Spanish Valley; completion of the Sheley Tunnel to divert Mill Creek waters into Spanish Valley; and for major transmission lines from the reservoir down Spanish Valley lo a connecting point with present Moab City culinary water lines. If, following the public hearing on July 18, the County Commission decides to ictually create the district, it would be oossible to schedule such a bond election he latter part of September, according to K. E. McDougald, chairman of the ,Tand County Water Conservancy Dis-'rict. Dis-'rict. Moab City, which would be a major future user of waters developed under .'ie Mill Creek Project, would be :compassed in the special district. The Moab City Council Tuesday consented, :y resolution, to the creation of the special service district. The City had hlready agreed to purchase water from the district to augment current water sources. ?lr. McDougald stated that plans are v :ially complete for the massive water , "ject, wiuch is estimated to cost several million dollars. The 100 acre reservoir created would store some 2800 . acre feet of water, and would be able to supply some 6000 acre feet of water to various users during an average year. The project would not include a culinary water system for Spanish Valley, but it would provide major transmission lines and water supplies for such a system when constructed by t.ie Spanish Valley Water and Sewer District. Dis-trict. Moab City would be able to utilize some 1000 acre feet of water; 400 acre feet would be made available for Spanish Valley culinary use; 700 additional acres of agricultural land would be supplied irrigation water and 3600 acre-feet of water would be earmarked to supply rights of owners of Moab Irrigation Company for land currently being irrigated. irri-gated. The project now being planned replaced replac-ed an older concept which called for a large earth-fill dam in Mill Creek just east of Moab City. That project would have been built jointly to produce water conservancy benefits as well as to control flooding in Mill Creek. The new project does nothing about controlling floods in Mill Creek. It is being planned in conjunction, though, with a Corps of Army Engineers plan which is already approved to do some $3 million in flood channeling work along Mill Creek in Moab to eliminate the flood threat. |