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Show v v'V 5A. Emery County Progress Castle Dale, Utah Tuesday September 24, 2002 Scene Vc f, V4M! 41 - S Water :V V ' - -r r '$' $ m " f - , t , v--Vi i&k "l ,7 m V 'V; v: 5 P A '& - l. is a. 4 asf& t- t. jr si I 4 - 4t & 1 JZf Jo Either too much or too little, water is always a worry for rural Utah r-- s V V tl i 41 tSf f . " i- - ! 4 Jt . t 5 4 ft tf'i I . v I f . V- .iti id ft S "i ' , . X. - Editors Note: This is the second in a four-paseries which rt deals with issues facingrural communities. By PATSY STODDARD Editor water issue is never simple one. There 6eems to be too much or too little. This year Utah is experiencing its fourth consecutive year of drought conditions. The reservoirs around the state are at record The low levels. Locally Joes Valley Reservoir is lower than it ever has been since it was initially filled in the 1960s. At the recent rural summit in Cedar City the issue of When your well or stream runs dry....what then?" was addressed. Bob Morgan who is the director of the department of 4 tion, Gene Shawcroft, 1? assistant general manager for the Central Utah Project and Ron Thompson from the Washington County Conservation District. Nielson said, I come from the Midwest and they use certified witchers with a forked stick and sometimes a ban saw to identify new water sources, I hope it doesnt come to that here. Is it a little late for new solutions, when the water trucks are out? What do we need to be doing to avoid this problem in the future to assure w e have the quantity and quality of water that we need. This year people who have been downstream from wastew ater facilities have been warned not to swim in these waters. These facilities were in compliance one of natural reBlending the Past but the critical sources served with the Future functions is as the moderaPart II tor for the having enough flow workshop and to manage said, Water is contaminants. With the low er an interesting subject and in all stream Dows w e lost that of the years that I have worked buffer capacity. I with water believe we will In those streams from a 2002 water and recall the year health perspective some look back upon its significance. Water alw ays seems to stir up community water sources that have been used for years some controversy either a well at this point might not meet has run dry or someone uparsenic and lead requirestream is taking someone elses ments. Sometimes things w ater. Water doesnt change. change, contaminant levels People will stid retain their w ater shares even though in change over time. The fight some cases a strip mall now sits ends up being over what is on their land. We have been healthy and what is not. Whether it is a healthy, taught that these water shares are valuable. Since the day the quality water for culinary use or an irrigation use Salt came into the Lake pioneers makes a difference in the valley, the first thing they did cost of the water. Availability was to start digging ditches so of drinking water has an fields some they could irrigate and grow' some food. That ethic impact on growth. Some high school has carried on today." students on the Wasatch Morgan introduced the Front were asked to identify panelists for the water discuswhere their water came from sion which included Dianne and only 5 percent of them Nielson, director of the departcould identify the source of ment of environmental quality, their drinkmgwater. I expect Warren Peterson, attorney for that number would be much the Utah Water Users Associa-- - vt. 'SVso. W' 1 i H ' ; .i. i s. ' nsr? ti iws S V A Water going over the spillway at Millsite Reservoir is a welcome, but only sporadically seen sight in Emery County. higher in rural Utah. This disconnection from the resource is part of the problem. To protect resources upstream should be a priority so we dont have to spend as many resources down stream to dean it up, said Nielson. Thompson said, When the well runs dry it is too late to start the planning process. The drought teaches us where the weak link is. I remember as a child going to St. George where they had brown lawns and were given tickets for w ashing their cars. They began to diversify their water sources. Their population grew from 13,(300 in 1970, 30.000 in 1980, 47,000 in 1990 and over 100,000 in the vear 2000. The precipitation this year is 30 percent of normal. There is a drought across the U.S. The watershed is in poor condition. Drought has long tern effects which cause severe problems in the local economies. Secretary of the Interior, Gale Norton said 40 percent of the U.S. is in a drout. The projected population for southern Utah in the 2020s is 200.000 people and by 2050, 400.000 people. How do w e plan water resources for that growth? Development of enough' water resources that will handle that growth will come with a significant price tag. How do w e develop water for people and preserve the environment? We have to play by the rules when developing resources and deal with environmental issues, regardless of how we feel about them. Costs must be shared in finding resources. A balance must be struck in bringing all Water flows down Cottonwood Creek in this photo by Rue Ware. water systems to healthy compliance. Taxation and the burden on water rates is a complex issue without easy answers. A politically quick solution might solve one problem but cause other problems. The rapid growth in Washington County couldnt have happened without resource balance. The question for the future is how to balance cost to make more people winners, said Thompson. Peterson said, The Green River supplies the water Nevada and Utah website which gives w ater contain the most federal and state land of any of the states. conservation tips; Water is a limiting resource. www.waler.utah.gov We need to place the The drought has brought to the attention that we have been emphasis on water development. The agriculture people selling w'ater too cheap in a are hurting this year. They are desert and using too much. for resource the Competition selling off herds and the effects of the drought will be long will make the resource more term. It is accelerating the expensive. Most municipalities do not charge enough for their decline of rural economies. w ater to replace systems. In urban areas, we are the third most urbanized state in Their budgeting did not include costs of upkeep in the union now; there has been most cases. Most municipalidevelopment without sensitivties need to increase their ity to the water structure. The We need canals arent being taken care to storage capacity. of and when the water runs out increase pressure for funding of the ditch, all hell breaks and look at water projects loose. Education and a land down the road 0 years on use planning committee will the planning horizon. Most of the easy water has help protect resources. Why been developed. How do you buil in places that destroys the resource for others, price water? We need particifrom water users the pation questioned Peterson. and make sure they are Shawcroft said, Back at the implementing wise practices. beginning of the Central Utah We need a unified water Project in the 40s and 50s conservation plan. There is a growth regulation w as not an issue. The CUP was created to store a portion of the Colorado River which otherwise goes down stream. A series of exchanges have been created to collect w ater from the south slope of the Uintas and the Strawberry and divert it to the Wasatch Front. The water rights for the project are relatively new from 1965. The project would make more w ater available through storage for use. There was much criticism of the project at its inception. There has been no criticism this year. Ive heard from a lot of people how glad they were that Jordanelle and the Strawberry projects were finished. In reference to being disconnected from the resource. One high school student who was on a field trip to tour CUP projects asked why we needed alfalfa. On the Strawberry diversion with the first plan it diverted 314,400 acre feet of w ater which was used for irrigation, municipal and fish Dows. With the next step, more water was used for municipal and industrial and less for agriculture and irrigation. This has been the trend on all the systems, said 20-3- Shawcroft. Photos by Patsy Stoddard City. The panel of water experts fielded questions from the audience. One person w anted to know why the state doesnt encourage people with wells to hook up to a culinary system when one is available. The panel answered that it is a requirement of the state to needs of Green River provide safe drinkingwater for the people. Programs and management are dealt with at the local level and they believed the key would be in educating those reluctant to hook up; letting those people know what they are getting could be a possible solution. The issue of educating the youth in matters of water resources and agriculture were discussed. Programs such as agriculture in the class room is available as well as Utah State extension programs and Farm Bureau volunteers w hich go into the classrooms and teach students about agriculture. It was pointed out that any teacher can request agin the classroom materials and they are free of charge. Also a water poster contest is sponsored each year which helps students understand where water comes from. The Emery County Water Conservancy District participates in this contest yearly and the panel mentioned how Emery County wins every year. Water pricing is a complex issue and an audience member wondered if there is a potential to do anything about the water pricing in Utah? The panel believed that pressure in this area could cause waste in an area or conservation as the case might be. Base rates must be set to cover costs and any overages should be set aside to cover additional purposes. The panel agreed that this should be done at the local level. The panel stressed again that the easy w ater has been developed and additional water sources will become more expensive. This will be the debate of the future. The panel agreed that the focus of the future should be planning, conservation and education. There is a lot of room for improvement in each of these areas they stressed. 1 J - , A. ,v ,A , , . 4 |