OCR Text |
Show soon to be envisioned. Strawberry Reservoir was completed in 1913, and as early as 1919 local municipal and agricultural water users and other leaders who recognized future water requirements in central Utah began considering the possibility of expanding the existing Strawberry Valley Project. From 1939 to 1943, a reconnaissance investigation of the Colorado River- Great Basin Project was conducted by the Bureau of Reclamation pursuant to a contract between the United States of America and the State of Utah, dated July 1, 1939. The plan for this project included the transbasin diversion of 1,000,000 acre- feet of water annually from the Green River in the Colorado River Basin to the Great Basin. Investigations on obtaining additional water for the Strawberry Valley Project were begun in the spring of 1945. During the course of these studies, the plan was expanded to cover essentially the same area that was considered in the Colorado River- Great Basin Project, and the name Central Utah Project was given to the proposal. Results of the studies were contained in a project- planning interim report of September 1945. The report included a reconnaissance- type plan which provided for the exportation of about 600,000 acre- feet of water from the Colorado River Basin to the Bonneville Basin. Strawberry Aqueduct would intercept 11 streams on the south flank of the Uinta Mountains and convey the water by gravity flow to the Strawberry Reservoir, which would be enlarged to a capacity of 1,900,000 acre- feet. Echo Park Reservoir, with a capacity of 6,400,000 acre- feet would be constructed on Green River. Water delivered from this reservoir through the 132- mile Echo Park Aqueduct would be used for replacement of water diverted from the Uinta Basin and for supplemental irrigation of lands in the basin. Eight powerplants were planned, with a total installed capacity of 347,000 kilowatts. A project office was established in Spanish Fork in 1946, and feasibility investigations were continued for the next several years. Results of these investigations were compiled in a feasibility report released in 1951.92 This report was widely circulated and was the basis for authorization of the initial phase of the Central Utah Project in 1956 as a participating project with the Colorado River Storage Project. The plan for development was similar to that reported in the 1945 reconnaissance report, with some refinements and modifications. Echo Park Dam was deleted; Strawberry Aqueduct was reduced in length to 37 miles, extending from Strawberry Reservoir to Rock Creek; Strawberry Reservoir was reduced in size; and local water development in both the Bonneville Basin and the Uinta Basin was increased. 18 |