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Show <J lakes, streams, and proposed reservoirs in the Uintah Basin along the proposed Strawberry Aqueduct' from Brush Creek on the east to Strawberry Reservoir. Strawberry Reservoir was to be enlarged from its present active capacity of 270,000 acre-feet to an active capacity of 1,370,000 acre-feet. Application No. 18043 covered all of the reservoirs and points of diversion along the collection system in the Uinta Basin and the distribution system and land in the Bonneville Basin, but it did not cover lands in the Uinta Basin or reservoirs to distribute the water. Application No. 18043 has never been approved due to the great number of protests filed at the time it was advertised in March 1961 by the State Engineer as required by Utah Water right procedures. At that time the Bureau of Reclamation requested that the State Engineer delay further action on this application until planning for the Bonneville Unit was more advanced and better understood by the local people. Shortly after application No. 18043 was filed, the Governor of Utah withdrew the Uinta Basin streams, tributary to the Green River, from further appropriation of more than 5 second-feet for each individual application. It was common knowledge at the time of the withdrawal proclamation that it was made by the Governor in the interest of protecting a water supply for the Central Utah Project. Subsequent to the Governor's withdrawal order, a group of 100 or more water right applications of 5 second-feet or less were filed, generally blanketing the Duchesne River. Most of these applications were filed in 1956, 1957, and 1958 and through the years have come to be known as the 5 second-foot rights. Field investigations have shown the 5 second-foot applications frequently overlap one another and include some lands already covered by other water rights. The applications have also included numerous steep, rocky hillsides and river bottoms subject to intermittent flooding and seepage. It was determined that in total about 14,600 acres of land subject to irrigation were covered by the applications, including 9700 acres presently irrigated and 4900 acres of new land. Only 320 acres of the new land are under existing canals and ditches and some of the land can only be served by expensive pumping developments. An adjudication to define all surface and ground water rights in. the Uinta Basin was ordered March 20, 1956, by the Fourth Judicial District Court in Civil Action No. 3070. Considerable work has been done by the State Engineer's Office on this adjudication. It has prepared hydrographic survey maps, determined ownerships, and j^repared most of the water users claims on the Duchesne River. This information and data were extremely valuable for Bonneville Unit planning and studies to identify the developed and irrigated lands along the Duchesne River without adequate water rights. Recommendations of the Duchesne River Area Study Committee were the basis for planning of Bonneville Unit. It was necessary to put these recommendations into effect and determine the most equitable method of obtaining an approved water right for the project and of identifiying the lands in the Duchesne River area which were irrigated but which 10 |
