Correspondence on Bonneville Unit of Central Utah Project

Page 121

i . - - - - ••••'• EXHIBIT D United States Department of the Interior OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY WASHINGTON, D.C. 20240 Memorandum ' OCT 1 9- 1973 To: The Secretary Through:"'The Under Secretary v. From:- Assistant Secretary - Program Development and Budget Subject: Bonneville Unit, Central Utah Project We have undertaken a careful analysis of the Bonneville Unit in an attempt to isolate, to the extent possible, the few real issues upon which your decision should turn.- In particular, we have closely examined the immediate proposal to award a contract for construction of Currant Creek Dam, the - next step"on the-StrawberryAqueduct." * ' -• Jack Horton's memo of September 21, 1973, recommends that we construct Currant Creek Dam while negotiating the issue of fishery bypasses for the Uinta Basin"streams.. The Indian Deferral Agreement issue became more : apparent after the September 21-memo, and we are informed that Jack Horton would-also require resolution of that issue before construction of the Strawberry Aqueduct beyond Currant Creek Dam.- We share Jack Horton's opinion that, in the long run, M&I will prove to be a higher priority'use of water than irrigation, but we do not agree that * further development of the Strawberry Aqueduct is the best way to develop the M&I water. Before providing our specific recommendation, we will describe briefly the operation of the Bonneville Unit and comment onJ what we think are three important issues. (More complete analyses are in the'Appendix to this memo). •• Operation of the Bonneville Unit -. ; The operation of the Bonneville Unit can be viewed in terms of sources and uses of water. • .- • •*•"••; ....... Sources _ - 154,000 a.f. are developed from several streams in the Uinta Basin;-136,000 a.f. of this amount are diverted to the Bonneville . ri -Basin. The largest of the streams, Rock Creek, which supplies ' over half of this water, is at the end of"the Strawberry Aqueduct. >-••-• -. - i - " ETJ