OCR Text |
Show SECTION 1 INTRODUCTION The Central Utah Project Completion Program is a multi- faceted program of water supply development, conveyance, conservation and environmental mitigation and enhancement for the purposes of completing the Central Utah Project ( CUP). The CUP will allow the development of some of Utah's share of the Colorado River to the mutual benefit of municipal, irrigation and environmental purposes. The Completion Program has been divided into five elements. These include the Uinta Basin Replacement Project, the Spanish Fork Canyon- Nephi Irrigation System, the Diamond Fork System, the Wasatch County Water Efficiency Project and the Water Management Improvement Studies ( WMIS). The WMIS are intended to identify cost- effective and environmentally sound measures which will encourage conservation and the wise use of water. Other purposes of the WMIS are to avoid curtailments, reduce costs, improve water quality and streamflows for environmental and recreation benefits, and make prudent use of currentiy available water before importing Bear River water into Salt Lake County. The WMIS include four programs: the Water Management Improvement Plan, the Coordinated Operations Study, the Utah Water Conservation Advisory Board, and the Water Pricing Policy Study ( Pricing Study). The Pricing Study is to examine, in consultation with the State and each petitioner of project water, the wholesale and retail pricing of water as a means of achieving water conservation. The purposes of the Pricing Study as described in the Central Utah Project Completion Act ( the Act) are: 1. To design and evaluate potential rate designs and pricing policies for water supply and wastewater treatment within the Central Utah Water Conservancy District ( CUWCD) boundary; 2. To estimate demand elasticity for each of the principal categories of end use of water within the CUWCD boundary; 3. To quantify monthly water savings estimated to result from the various designs and policies to be evaluated; and 4. To identify a water pricing system that reflects the incremental scarcity value of water and rewards effective water conservation programs. Section 207( c) of the Act mandates that the CUWCD complete the Pricing Study within the legislatively mandated time period of three years from the passage of the Act. The ES- 1 Executive Summary |