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Show 'We want CUP water say northern communities By MARC HADDOCK Claiming a definite interest in the ntral Utah Project water set aside lor the Alpine Aqueduct-Reach 3, "orthern Utah County communities nave asked for time to make a counter-bid for 10,000 acre feet of a'er planned for the pipeline now ""der construction. Tne Salt Lake County Water nservancy District, which in-J;ludes in-J;ludes a small portion of Utah 0Unty, had previously made an application for the water. fiut in a meeting with Central Utah Water Conservancy District Ulrector Lynn Ludlow last Wed nesday, a group of mayors from local communities said the water had always been allocated for the incorporated cities in North Utah County, and that's the way they expected the A-3 water to be handled. han-dled. Reporting in the CUWCD meeting last week, Ludlow told the district directors that the mayors "stated they would want the water and that they had always wanted the water." Ludlow said the cities, represented by the Timpanogos Planning and Water Management Agency would develop a request for the water prior to the October meeting of the district. That request would counter an application for the water made two months agd by Robert Hilbert, director of the SLCWCD, for 10,000 acre feet of the 20,000 acre feet of CUP water planned for the pipeline. Hilbert said the water would be used for intended development in the extreme northern part of county now encompassed by the Salt Lake County district. But Don Christiansen, Mayor of Alpine and chairman of the Timpanogos Tim-panogos Agency, said Hubert's application is in opposition to the intended use of the A-3 for existing communities. "That's the way it will be handled," han-dled," Christiansen said. "We've never previously said we don't want it. We are looking at the needs we have now." The Alpine Mayor said the Timpanogos Tim-panogos Agency may not come up with a specific application for the water, but would "at least sum up the direction in which we are going for the Central Utah Water. We are going to work for it." There are still some questions surrounding the pipeline, which will be under construction soon. The ultimate recipients of the water and the CUWCD still must decide if the pipeline will carry raw water, or water treated in the CUP's Orem treatment plant. Local communities have expressed ex-pressed an interest in receiving raw water, and then letting the cities treat it. CUP officials, however, have indicated that the A-3 will probably carry treated water. Also still unresolved is the source of the water, which originally was to come from the Jordanelle Dam. Construction of that dam, however, is currently being held up by the Bureau of Reclamation while the CUWCD works out a schedule to repay the BOR for work already done on the CUP. Also, the complex question of water rights on the Provo River between Provo City and CUWCD will probably have to be resolved before water will be available through the A-3. Construction of the A-3's companion com-panion Jordan Aqueduct-Reach 4 is currently underway between Highland and Salt Lake County. Once that work is finished, construction con-struction will begin on the southern portion of the pipelines through Highland and Pleasant Grove toward the mouth of Provo Canyon. |