OCR Text |
Show evidenced by the fact that 50,000 acre- feet of Bonneville Unit water has already been contracted for* They further testified that their wholesale customers were notified by letter of possible reduction of water delivery during the years 1972 and 1973. The past few years have been better than average water years, especially in the.-. northern half of the State. Conservancy District officials have said that those who believe local water sources are sufficient to meet the needs would only have a valid claim if growth were to stop and every year were to be an average or high water year. The Jordan Aqueduct, a feature of the Bonneville Unit, is being completed on the west side of Salt Lake County. It would deliver water to the area of greatest need and would also relieve the inadequate capacity problem in the existing system. Without the Jordan Aqueduct, extensive revision of the existing system would be required to deliver water from the east to west side of the valley. The addition of the Jordan Aqueduct to the system would also allow a better utilization of the runoff from the frontal streams as it occured within the normal demand pattern without storage. Storage on most frontal streams is presently less attractive than alternative sites from both an economic and environmental standpoint. The existing environment and anticipated impacts associated with reservoir development on the frontal streams are discussed in paragraph H- l( 2). Many people do not fully understand the function of reservoirs in a water system. Deer Creek Reservoir, for example, like the major reservoirs of the Bonneville Unit, was planned for operation as a long- term carryover reservoir. The reservoir storage would be built up in good years for carryover use in drought periods. As a result, local supplies are utilized more in the good years with no large withdrawals from the reservoir. In drought years, when stream supplies dwindle, then the carryover storage is available to meet the very heavy demand. Critics of the Unit have claimed that Deer Creek water is not presently used and made reference to the smaller withdrawal made in the recent good water years. They have also compared the heavy withdrawals made in the drought year, such as 19^ 1, with the smaller withdrawals in the recent good water years and claim that growth and expansion have taken place without the use of reclamation water. This, however, is not the case. As the State and Nation grow and develop, there is an increasing need for additional food, fiber, and electrical energy, all of which the Bonneville Unit would help to provide. Historically the demand for electrical energy has increased at an annual rate of about 7 percent per year. At this rate of increase, the demand for electrical energy doubles every 10 years. Hydroelectric power, such as would be produced by the Diamond Fork Power System of the Bonneville Unit, provides a relatively clean source of electrical energy with less adverse effect on the environment than any other commercial source. It also has the advantage of not depleting combustible fuel supplies. |