OCR Text |
Show b. Central Utah Project (Initial phase) The Central Utah Project (initial phase) would intercept streams draining the southern slope of the Uinta Mountains in the Colorado River Basin and would convey the water by gravity flow through the Wasatch Mountains to the Bonneville Basin for power generation, irrigation, municipal and industrial use, and other purposes in central Utah. Water conservation for irrigation, municipal use, and other purposes would also be accomplished in Utah's Uinta Basin, a part of the Colorado River Basin. Supplemental water would be furnished for 131,840 acres and a full supply would be furnished for 28,540 acres not presently irrigated. Municipal and industrial water averaging 48,800 acre-feet annually would be provided, and power averaging 373,000,000 kilowatt-hours annually would be generated at project plants with installed capacities totaling 61,000 kilowatts. The potential Strawberry Aqueduct would intercept flows of Rock Creek and other Uinta Mountain streams west of Rock Creek and convey the water to the existing Strawberry Reservoir which would be enlarged by the construction of Soldier Creek Dam below the present dam. The reservoir water would be released through an enlargement of the present tunnel to the headwaters of Spanish Fork River in the Bonneville Basin. In descending Spanish Fork Canyon, the water would flow through a series of power plants before being consumptively used in the central Utah area. Through various exchanges and by the construction of the required facilities, the water would be made available to an area extending from Salt Lake City south 75 miles to Nephi. New project works that would develop water for use in the Uinta Basin would include Hanna Reservoir on the North Fork of Duchesne River, Starvation Reservoir on Strawberry River with a feeder canal from the Duchesne River, Upalco Reservoir off stream from Lake Fork River, Stanaker Reservoir with a feeder canal from Ashley Creek, and Tyzack Reservoir on Brush Creek. The Stanaker Reservoir is a feature of the Vernal Unit of the Central Utah Project upon which the first construction activities are scheduled. In Utah, this project has priority. The Bureau is working as rapidly as possible with the limited manpower available. A definite plan report for the Vernal Unit will be ready for processing by April, 1957. It will probably be about June, 1960 before a definite plan report for the entire initial phase of the Central Utah Project can be completed. |