| OCR Text |
Show Sevier River Basin Surface inflow to the central Sevier River area at the upper end near Clear Creek is approximately 170,000 acre- feet per year. Outflow at the lower end to Sevier Bridge Reservoir is about 150,000 acre- feet, which includes 20,000 acre- feet from the San Pitch River drainage. Surface water diversions in this area, nearly all for irrigation, total 187,300 acre- feet. This illustrates there is considerable use and reuse of groundwater, tributary inflows, and irrigation return flows. In fact, dry dams occur at several points along this reach of the river. The outflow from the area consists primarily of winter flows and flood water. Some storage water is bypassed from the upstream Piute Reservoir to Sevier Bridge Reservoir to equalize rights. Surface inflow to the lower Sevier River area averages about 160,000 acre- feet. The Sevier Bridge Reservoir and smaller reservoirs almost completely control the Sevier River below this point. Total irrigation diversions to the Unit area are about 117,000 acre- feet per year. In addition, the Central Utah Canal diverts about 29,300 acre- feet per year to the Leamington- Lynndyl and the Holden- Fillmore areas. Outflow from the area is negligible except in flood years when water is discharged to the now- dry Sevier Lake. Irrigation has been practiced in the Sevier River Valley since about I85O and surface water rights are over- appropriated and fully used. Irrigable land is much in excess of available water supplies. The average annual irrigation shortage is ik percent for the past 35- year period with a maximum shortage of 60 percent. Water quality varies in concentrations of dissolved salts from 290 to 3,000 mg/ 1 from Piute Reservoir in the upper area to Deseret, Utah, or the lower part of the Sevier River. Uinta Basin By Executive Order of October 3, l86l, President Abraham Lincoln established an Indian Reservation in the Uinta Basin covering the drainage area of the Duchesne River and its tributaries. The Indians had undisturbed possession of the reservation for some kO years until the Act of 1902 provided for the allotment of arable reservation lands in severalty to the Indians and the restoration of the unallotted lands to the public domain. In 1905 the United States Government opened the reservation to non- Indian land filings of 160 acres each and, as a result, 180 |
