Central Utah Project Litigation Documents

Page 118

MKM United States Department of the Interior 0Jj) <<f. tl-£> OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY WASHINGTON, D.C. 20240 CU^O 1>//S-/7LL Memorandum To? . OCT 1 9 1973 s/ The Secretary Through:" The Under Secretary Assistant Secretary - Program Development and Budget C*u/l£uijc£~ Bcnne:jtthle-Uni^ 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 n.ext step on the ^Strawberry Aqueduct. - ' Jack Horton's memo of September 21, 1973, recommends that we construct mr^t f>PPk [jam wnTTi negotiating the issue "of fishery bypasses"for_the Ui1rEF^aiTn~:TFeams^. The Indian Deferral Agreement issue became more apparent after theJeptembeFlf^emipT_and we are informed thatTJack Hortqn ^o^Trsorreguire r^soTutTorT of that issue before construction of the Strawberry Aqueauct beyond Currant Cree_k_Daiiu " We share Jack Horton's opinion that, in the long run, M&I will prove to be a:Mgher pTTority^use of water than irrigation, but we do_not agree that fuRReFHeveTopment of the jtrawberry^AqTi^uct is the best way to develop t E H water. Before providing our specific recommendation, we will ITescribeHHefly the operation of the Bonneville Unit and comment on^ VfHaTwe- think are three important issues. " (Mor^Jcomple^e analyses are j'n the"Appendix to~thls memo). " '" ""* '" r^~~ Operation of the Bonneville Unit .'•••_'; .- - - The operation of the Bonneville Unit can be viewed in terms of sources and es of water. -* Sources . - 154,000 a.f. are developed from several streams in the Uinta Basinr136,000 a.f. of this amount are diverted to the Bonneville o-Basin. The largest of the streams, Rock Creek, which supplies over half of this water, is at the end of"the Strawberry Aqueduct. ILPrJ