Municipal and Industrial System, Bonneville Unit, Central Utah Project, Utah: correspondence and documents, 1979

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Citizens for a Responsible Central Utah Project 9527 South 220 East Sandy, Utah 84070 December 18, 1979 Board of Directors Dorothy Harvey, ro-chairperson Fred Reimherr, co-chairperson Beth Duncan Divid Freed Karl Heidenreich Peter Hovingh David littlefield Dave McCormick Barbara Polich James Talley Hartt Wixom Supporting Organizations •Utah Trout Unlimited Council •Rocky Mountian Council of the Federation of Fly Fishermen •Utah Member Clubs of the Federation of Fly Fishermen •Stonefly Society of the Wastach Salt Lake City, Utah •Order of the Royal Coachman Pleasant Grove, Utah Governor Scott Matheson State Capitol Building Salt Lake City, Utah Dear Governor Matheson, The Citizens for a Responsible Central Utah Project (CRCUP) are concerned about the safety of the project's dams. According to a press release in the Provo Herald on December 21, 1977, the Bureau of Reclamation, now the Federal Water and Power Resources Service (FWPRS), Commissioner R. Keith Higginson had invited state governments to participate in formal dam safety reviews. We are interested in knowing what steps the State of Utah is taking to assure itself and its citizens that the dams being built by this federal agency are indedd safe. Of major concern to CRCUP is Soldier Creek Dam. A professional report by W. A. Wahler and Associates prepared in June 1977 was very critical of the siting, construction and safety features of the dam. A press release from FWPRS appearing in the Deseret News on November 11, 1979 (enclosed) stated "the deficiencies brought out in the Wahler report are being corrected." What does the State know about these corrections? Will any State requirements have to be met before the dam is considered safe enough to be filled? It is our understanding that no seismic study has been performed on this dam even though the area is seismically active. The FWPRS is reported to have stated they were unable to afford a seismic study. Has the State Seismic Board reported on this dam? Starvation Dam and Resevoir are of concern to us because we have visited the site, have seen water flowing downstream from the left abutment and have observed how saturated that area is. The FWPRS readily points out that all dams leak, but the so-called "seeps" consist of water cascading down the bank of the abutment, flowing at different levels as the reservoir was drained recently.' Naturally, the seeps diminished as the water level dropped. Furthermore, we believe the FWPRS is withholding information from the public concerning the condition of the dam and operations currently underway by FWPRS. We say this because at the time of this writing, two drill rigs are drilling on the dam and no mention of this activity was made in the recent news releases to the public. A recent KSL-TV report stated that no repairs were going to be made on the dam. It appears to us that the water in the reservoir moves freely through the horizontal sedimentary formations surrounding the reservoir. We understand that the Starvation Bridge suffers from the same problem of water dissolving materials from within