Citizens for a Responsible Central Utah Project, correspondence, 1979

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For purposes of sustaining a fishery, there is a need to have water in a stream on a continuous basis. I quote the Anti- Degradation Policy, Maintenance of Water Quality of the Standards of Quality for Waters of the State. "Waters whose existing quality is better than the established standards for the designated uses will be maintained at high quality unless it is determined by the Committee that a change is justifiable as a result of necessary economic or social development. However, existing Instream water uses shall be maintained and protected. No water quality degrada­tion is allowable which would Interfere with or become injurious to existing instream water uses." EPA interpretations of Amendments to the Clean Water Act declare that quality of water requires quantity of water in order to comply with the Act. Class 3 Classification under Use Designation, states: Class 3A - protected for cold water species of game fish and other cold water aquatic life, including the necessary aquatic organisms in their food chain. Please provide answers to issues raised here about proposed use and dewatering of the West Fork of the Duchesne River. 2. The Corps of Engineers 404 Permit also makes this statement, speaking of water to be used from the Strawberry Reservoir: "This ater will be used for agricultural and municipal purposes." The Strawberry Reservoir is a component of the Strawberry Collect­ion System. In a November 14, 1978 letter to Brian Beard, Utah Sierra Club Conservation Chairman, the Bureau stated: The Municipal and Industrial System of the Bonneville Unit has been | modified somewhat since the Final Environmental Statement on the ! overall unit was released on August 2, 1973. According to that report, the water for the system was to be made available by diking j Utah Lake, while the water supply for the irrigation and drainage system of the unit would be provided by the Strawberry Collection System. The proposed plan is now reversed, with the municipal and industrial supply to be provided by the collection system and the i irrigation supply to be provided by the diking of the lake. Releases from the collection system would flow through the Diamond Fork and ! Spanish Fork Rivers to Utah Lake to replace Provo River flows that j would be stored and diverted under the Municipal and Industrial System. In view of the change of purpose in designating the Strawberry Collection System an M & I System, why does the Corps of Engineers Permit not state that water through the Vat tunnel is for Indus­trial purposes? Was the 404 Permit applied for before the Bureau changed the Strawberry Collection System to M & I? Is this Permit a stipulation? What are the reasons for the failure to coordinate purpose and regulation?