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Show WATER FOR UTAH The total capacity of these reservoirs is 581,200 acre- feet. In addition, Utah Lake, with storage capacity of 850,000 acre- feet, is used as a storage reservoir. The land irrigated in this basin amounts to 369,800 acres. On this acreage there is normally used 1,100,000 acre- feet of water, which is estimated to be about 86% of an adequate amount. This means a shortage of 180,000 acre- feet. This shortage adversely affects 144,500 acres, which has an average of only 67% of full supply. The remainder of the land, 225,300 acres, is adequately supplied. Soils studies show about 694,400 acres of arable land in this basin, or nearly twice the area now irrigated. The present water supply is only 46.6% adequate for irrigating all the arable lands. ( See Table I I). Since the major cities and the principal industrial activities are located in this area, the need for water for nonirrigation purposes is large. The total population in this area is probably close to 500,000 at the present time. Most of this population is urban. One of the major problems of some of the municipalities has been to obtain adequate domestic water supplies. Lack of adequate water supplies also has limited industrial expansion in some cases. An average of about 450,000 acre- feet is discharged annually from the Weber River into the Great Salt Lake. Some is also lost from small streams. Complete utilization of this water for irrigation seems impractical. Existing downstream water power rights, small storage reservoir sites and difficulties of getting the water to the land retard complete development. Some water must be permitted to discharge into the lake for the benefit of bird refuge located at the river's mouth. .. Present Hydroelectric Power Developments ... Hydroelectric power plants in this basin at present include many hydroelectric power plants of individual small capacity with an installed total of 34,286 kilowatts, which in 1945 generated a total of 175 million kilowatt hours. ... Potential Irrigation Development... Investigations have been made and plans developed in a tentative form as part of the Central Utah Project for the development of an additional 414,000 acre- feet of water. Of this, 284,000 are to be developed within the basin, and 130,000 acre- feet are to be diverted from the Colorado River Drainage Basin. A part, 147,- 000 acre- feet, is proposed for use in supplementing existing water supplies on 118,400 acres that are short. The balance, 267,000 acre- feet, would be applied to 84,500 acres of land not now irrigated. Should these proposals be consummated, there would be about 98% of an adequate supply for all irrigated land. Only 26,- 100 acres would be short. This is land so located that the development of supplemental water for it would not be feasible. However, after the development there would be only 64.1% of a full TABLE II PRESENT ANNUAL REQUIREMENTS AND USE OF WATER FOR IRRIGATION IN THE WEBER RIVER- UTAH LAKE DRAINAGE BASIN, UTAH Present Water Supply Area Requirements for Full Supply Present Supply Present Shortage Present With Full Supply Adequate 1,000 acres 225.3 144.5 369.8 694.4 1,000 A.- Ft. 735.0 454.0 1,280.0 2,361.0 1,000 A.- Ft. 735.0 365.0 1,100.0 1,100.0 1,000 A.- Ft. Per cent 100.0 Inadequate 180.0 180.0 1,261.0 67.01 TOTAL 85.91 Potential arable 46.6 [ 115] |
