Issues Paper, Central Utah Project

Page 166

AT/ Board of County Commissioners of Salt Lake County April 3, 1978 Page six County well past the year 2020 without additional major capital investment for trans-basin diversion facilities. With or without the Strawberry collection system of the Bonneville Unit, the proper management of the water resources of Salt Lake County should be a major objective of both municipal and county governments. Waste, inefficient use, or under-utiliza- I tion of this precious resource should not be tolerated. The time for beginning the massive undertaking of efficient water management has arrived. The questions raised in the ongoing adjudication ot water rights in Salt Lake County, the water resource study conducted by the USGS, the Salt Lake County 208 Water Quality Study and the recent Utah State University report, should no longer be the sub­ject for opinionated debate. Those questions should be addressed and answered. If the current water resource managers are unable or unwilling to do so, then the local and state government should undertake the task of providing an adequate supply of water for the future at the lowest possible cost. The Bonneville Unit of the CUP is finally, according to our Congressional delegation, a sure thing. In the past it was also a sure thing, but has fallen behind schedule due to lack of fund­ing during the late 1960's and delays due to design changes. While it is a sure thing today, it may not be guaranteed tomorrow. Recent reports of a cutback on funding by the current administra­tion, possible withdrawal of support by the Ute Indians and new demands for water in the Colorado basin bear this out Therefore, independent of the Bonneville Unit, Salt Lake County should under­take aggressive water resource planning and management m order to provide an insured supply based upon resources locally controlled, rather than on resources controlled by the federal government which are dependent upon the continuing funding by the federal government for development. Another aspect of the Bonneville Unit which makes development I of local resources and their full utilization an important task is the statewide water resources picture. According to the 1975 btate Water Plan, the Colorado River is already over-appropriated. Water \ needs in Utah's part of the Colorado Basin for agriculture, domestic use, and power generation are unfilled while current plans call for further diminution of the resources of that basin. Meet­ings with the Bureau of Reclamation and the Central Utah Water CoSservancy District indicate that one of the strengths ot the Central Utah Project is it's flexibility. In fact, the project appears to be in a nearly constant state of flux with reformulation and redesign going on almost daily. This flexibility could be# used to the advantage of the people of Utah on a statewide basis