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Show New Smith-Morehouse reservoir could mean more water for P.C. by Christopher Smart A new dam designed to hold almost 10 times the volume of the current reservoir is scheduled to start construction this fall at Smith Morehouse, east of Oakley. The $7 million project is scheduled for September 1986 completion, according to Utah Water Resources Department project manager Steve Wild. The project's plans are now under final review for a September construction start, he said. The new Smith Morehouse dam isa project of the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District, Wild said. And while the Weber District will eventually pay for the dam's construction, 85 percent of the funding will be borrowed from the state. Wild explained that in 1978 the Utah Legislature set aside $25 million for dam construction across the state. Six million of those funds has been earmarked for the Smith Morehouse dam. - The Weber District will repay the loan at 4.25 percent interest over a 30-year period, Wild said.Those figures equate to a debt service of $358,000 annually, he said. The dam now standing at Smith Morehouse was constructed in the 1920s and holds approximately 850 acre feet of water. (An acre foot of water is the amount necessary to cover one acre one foot deep. ) The proposed dam, by contrast, will hold 7,900 acre feet. The new dam will stand about 80 feet high and will be approximately one half mile long. The existing dam is only about 30 feet high, Wild said. The proposed reservoir will have a surface area of 190 acres. Wild said the Smith Morehouse site is on National Forest lands. And although the structure has been deemed sound, the Forest Service has expressed concern over the years that the dam needed replacement. Talk of a new dam there began in the 1950s, Wild said. The project was included in the state's 1978 expansion funding program, but additional studies were necessary before final planning could be initiated on the project, Wild said. With Environmental Impact Studies and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permits complete, Weber Basin Water Conservancy District will begin advertising for bids by month's end, Wild said. Whether Park City will be a recipient of Smith Morehouse water is yet to be determined, according to Weber Basin District Manager Keith Jensen. Jensen said that talk of building a new dam at Smith Morehouse has been going around for years. "Some interest may be generated when there is actual water to be sold," he said. The Weber Basin Conservancy District has discussed the matter of selling water to the municipality but to this date, Jensen said, those talks have been informal. He added, however, that a study has been done on the availability of water in the Snyderville Basin. The decision on how to bring water to the Park City area from Smith Morehouse is "down the road," Jensen said. |