The Central Utah Project is a United States federal water project that was authorized for construction under the Colorado River Storage Project Act of April 11, 1956, as a participating project. In general, the Central Utah Project develops a portion of Utah's share of the yield of the Colorado River , as set out in the Colorado River Compact of 1922.
116-833: The Central Utah Project was authorized under the Colorado River Storage Project Act (CRSPA) (Public Law 84-485) on April 11, 1956, as a participating project of the Colorado River Storage Project to help meet Utah's long-term water needs. As originally planned and authorized, the Central Utah Project consisted of six units or sub-projects: the Bonneville Unit, the Jensen Unit, the Vernal Unit,
232-669: A capacity of 5 MWh. The Spanish Fork Canyon Pipeline and Spanish Fork–Santaquin Pipeline will convey up to 10,200 acre-feet (12,600,000 m) of SVP irrigation water shares of south Utah County municipalities through the new ULS pipelines when space is available. The Utah Lake System yield includes 30,000 acre-feet (37,000,000 m) of municipal and industrial water that will be delivered into Salt Lake County;30,000 acre-feet (37,000,000 m) of municipal and industrial water that will be delivered to south Utah County municipalities, which will assign about 3,000 acre-feet (3,700,000 m) to
348-688: A final five projects to the participants list: Four projects, the Fruitland Mesa, Savery-Pot Hook, San Miguel and West Divide Projects, were later found to be infeasible and removed from the list. Fruitland Mesa & Savery-Pot Hook Projects were cut by the United States Senate in the Public Works appropriations bill of July 1977. The four primary units of the Colorado River Storage Project have
464-750: A future municipal and industrial treated water system. Water for use in Summit County is provided from Washington, Trial, and Lost Lakes in the headwaters of the Provo River or directly from the Provo River, both facilitated through an exchange with storage in Jordanelle Reservoir. In 1999, the Central Utah Project Completion Act Office initiated a request for proposals for a Lease of Power Privilege on Jordanelle Dam. A Lease of Power Privilege
580-600: A habitat or damage to a natural resource) are planned at a permitted site. Where a business or individual has a debit, they might be required to purchase a credit to offset an impact that cannot be otherwise avoided or reduced. For example, England's Biodiversity Net Gain policy requires that developers purchase biodiversity credits from the government if they are unable to achieve a 10% gain in biodiversity by creating or enhancing habitat on their development site. Some entities might also purchase credits form these systems voluntarily. An example of an environmental crediting system
696-531: A maximum output of 1,813 megawatts of hydroelectric power at any given time, comparable to a large coal-fired generating station such as the Navajo Generating Station . The Blue Mesa and Navajo Dams, built primarily to function for flood control purposes, have saved approximately $ 10 million in flood-related costs up to the year 1999. Additionally, the various units of the project have created significant recreational opportunities throughout
812-473: A national campaign to rescue the park. As part of a compromise, the proposed dam was stricken from the project and replaced with another dam in Glen Canyon , Arizona . Brower, who had not personally visited Glen Canyon prior to the compromise, later lamented the deal, describing it as "the worst mistake of his career" and "'the biggest sin I ever committed'". A revised, and slightly pared down, version of
928-400: A permanent supply of 42,000 acre-feet (52,000,000 m) of irrigation water and 157,750 acre-feet (194,580,000 m) of municipal and industrial water. It will provide sufficient stream flow to maintain fisheries in various streams in the Bonneville Unit area. It will also provide flood control, recreation, project power, leased power, and fish and wildlife improvements. The Bonneville Unit
1044-813: A portion of its water for Bonneville Unit water supply. In exchange, the Bureau of Reclamation agreed to plan and construct the Uintah, Upalco, and Ute Indian Units of the CUP to provide storage of the Tribe's water. The settlement compensates the Tribe for Reclamation's failure to meet its 1965 construction obligations. Under the settlement, the Northern Tribe received $ 49.0 million for agricultural development, $ 29.5 million for recreation and fish and wildlife enhancement, and $ 125 million for economic development. As noted above,
1160-511: A tool to guide environmental mitigation measures like biodiversity offsetting has been put forward as a way of contributing to broader societal goals for biodiversity and conservation , such as the Global Biodiversity Framework or nature positive . This is debated and the role of aims like NNL and tools like biodiversity offsetting to achieve or undermine conservation goals is disputed. The mitigation hierarchy
1276-557: A way for companies to achieve environmental commitments (such as commitments to work towards a nature positive economy) by helping to fund initiatives like the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework or national biodiversity strategies. Determining the currency that a system will be based on and ensuring that debits and credits are ecologically equivalent are considered challenging issues for environmental crediting systems. There
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#17327760135511392-523: A wetlands boardwalk and interpretive walk, walk-in camping, picnicking, river fishing, and bird watching in the riparian corridor. It offers visitors a quieter experience than Hailstone. Recreation and public use at Jordanelle Reservoir is managed by the Utah Division of State Parks under an agreement with Reclamation. Jordanelle offers ongoing interpretive programs for school-aged children as well as nature hikes and boating safety programs throughout
1508-576: Is a United States Bureau of Reclamation project designed to oversee the development of the upper basin of the Colorado River . The project provides hydroelectric power , flood control and water storage for participating states along the upper portion of the Colorado River and its major tributaries. Since its inception in 1956, the project has grown to include the participation of several related water management projects throughout
1624-489: Is a large campground and day-use area on the west side of the reservoir. It is the side that experiences the most intensive use, including walk-in and RV camping, motorized boating, personal watercraft launch area, three group use pavilions, 41 family picnic sites, and a marina store and restaurant. It is the favored location for boaters and RV campers. Rock Cliff Nature Center, along the Upper Provo River, includes
1740-667: Is a partnership among public and private entities to provide for the non-federal generation of power on Reclamation facilities. Such leases are authorized under the Town Sites and Power Development Act of 1906 (43 U.S.C. 522) and the Reclamation Project Act of 1939 (43 U.S.C. 485h(c)). A Lease of Power Privilege is an alternative to the development of federal hydropower and grants the lessee the right to use, consistently with project purposes, water power head and storage for non-federal electric power generation and sale by
1856-605: Is a tool that is commonly used to guide the application of environmental mitigation measures. It aims to manage risks by applying a sequence of steps. The steps of the mitigation hierarchy (and terms used to describe them) vary regionally and across fields. In Environmental Impact Assessments , to which it is commonly applied, the mitigation hierarchy generally includes the following steps: The importance of applying these steps in order to effectively achieve conservation goals or policy aims (such as no net loss and net gain) has been emphasised. An increasing number of policies apply
1972-770: Is a water conservancy district organized under the laws of the State of Utah , representing local water users in a ten-county district. Congress responded to local concerns by enacting the Central Utah Project Completion Act on October 30, 1992. In the Central Utah Project Completion Act, Congress provided the direction for completing the Central Utah Project under a partnership among the Central Utah Water Conservancy District,
2088-475: Is a zoned earthfill structure with a height of 162 feet (49 m), a crest length of 1,997 feet (609 m), and a volume of 1,892,000 cubic yards. Steinaker Reservoir has a total capacity of 38,173 acre-feet (47,086,000 m) and a surface area of 820 acres (3.3 km). In 1993, Steinaker Dam and Reservoir began modifications to comply with the Safety of Dams requirements. The modifications included excavating
2204-445: Is also often applied with certain objectives for biodiversity levels or specific ecosystems in mind, such as "no net loss" or "net gain". Environmental mitigation can be defined in various ways depending on the institutions and countries where the term is applied, or on the framework that is used to guide mitigation. For example, it may be defined as the process by which measures to avoid, minimise, or compensate for adverse impacts on
2320-704: Is also used in the United States in the context of endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 as a form of compensatory mitigation. Biodiversity offsetting is an environmental mitigation measure defined by the Business and Biodiversity Offsets Programme as "measurable conservation outcomes of actions designed to compensate for significant residual adverse biodiversity impacts arising from project development after appropriate prevention and mitigation measures have been taken." It
2436-749: Is developed by collecting and storing excess flows of several streams (principally tributaries to the Duchesne River ), purchasing water rights, using part of the existing water supply in Utah Lake , and using project return flows and high flows entering Utah Lake. The Bonneville Unit includes features that facilitate a trans-basin diversion of water from the Uinta Basin to the Bonneville Basin and development of local water resources in both basins. The completed Bonneville Unit will deliver
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#17327760135512552-1231: Is divided into six systems: the Starvation Collection System, in the Uinta Basin; the Strawberry Aqueduct and Collection System; in the Uinta Basin ; the Municipal and Industrial System, in the Provo River Basin; the Ute Indian Tribal Development, in the Duchesne River Basin; the Diamond Fork System, in Diamond Fork Canyon ; and the Utah Lake System, in Diamond Fork Canyon; Spanish Fork Canyon ; and Utah Valley . The Starvation Collection System
2668-888: Is filled by winter and spring flows of the Duchesne and Strawberry Rivers. Duchesne River water is diverted by Knight Diversion Dam and conveyed to the reservoir through the Starvation Feeder Conduit. Starvation Reservoir provides a benefit to irrigators along the Duchesne River in the form of water delivery in the late summer and fall when streamflows typically decline below the levels that are needed for irrigation diversion. Water stored in Starvation Reservoir provides 24,400 acre-feet (30,100,000 m) of irrigation water and 500 acre-feet (620,000 m) of municipal and industrial water for use in
2784-507: Is no single agreed upon method for determining the value of credits to ensure that biodiversity lost and gained have an equivalent value. Ensuring that the outcomes of conservation projects used to generate credits are better for biodiversity than if the projects had not happened (a concept called additionality) is another challenge. One reason for this is the complexity of assessing the value of biodiversity, such as in terms of ecosystem services, both across different habitats and over time in
2900-425: Is often applied with the aim of achieving a specific goal such as " no net loss " (NNL) or a "net positive impact" (NPI) by using frameworks like the mitigation hierarchy. Depending on requirement, aims might be applied on the level of a single development site or on the level of landscapes, regions, and whole countries. Working towards these aims using the mitigation hierarchy (see § Mitigation hierarchy below) as
3016-508: Is put forward as the final step of the mitigation hierarchy and regulations require that it is applied only after measures to avoid or reduce impacts. It is an increasingly popular method of environmental mitigation for businesses and developers, though its suitability and success is debated. More than 100 countries worldwide have biodiversity offsetting requirements and, elsewhere, biodiversity offsetting may be applied as part of lending requirements from international financial institutions like
3132-717: Is released from Jordanelle Reservoir or diverted under direct flow water rights and then rediverted from the Provo River into the Olmsted Flowline. From that diversion, the water is conveyed to the Salt Lake County area by the 38-mile (61 km)-long Jordan Aqueduct and to northern Utah County through the 14-mile (23 km)-long Alpine Aqueduct. Water for use in Wasatch County is released from Jordanelle Reservoir for delivery by local irrigation canals, current secondary municipal and industrial systems, and
3248-448: Is the mitigation banking system in the United States. This system tends to be used to compensate for impacts on wetlands and other aquatic habitats in advance of their occurrence. It is the preferred method for compensatory mitigation under guidelines set by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and US Army Corps of Engineers - the agencies tasked with regulating mitigation banking in
3364-869: Is the major feature. Provo River flow that historically flowed into Utah Lake is stored in Jordanelle Reservoir and in Deer Creek Reservoir . Utah Lake water originating from the Provo River would be replaced by Bonneville Unit return flows to the lake, water rights previously acquired by the District in Utah Lake, direct releases of water from Strawberry Reservoir to Utah Lake, and flows that are surplus to Utah Lake rights. The municipal and industrial water for northern Utah County (20,000 acre-feet (25,000,000 m) per year) and Salt Lake County (70,000 acre-feet (86,000,000 m) per year)
3480-590: The Gunnison River in Colorado. It is the only unit in the project to be made up of more than one dam or reservoir. The Aspinall Unit was originally named the Curecanti Unit, but was renamed for former congressman Wayne N. Aspinall in 1980. Aspinall had been a strong proponent of water reclamation projects in Colorado and the western US in general, and was seen as a key opponent to David Brower in
3596-596: The Morrow Point Reservoir , putting it in the center of the Aspinall Unit. Completed in 1968, Morrow Point is the largest and most productive of the Aspinall dams. Morrow Point has a generating capacity of 173,334 kilowatts, making it the second most productive dam in the entire Colorado River Storage Project system. It provides about 60% of the Aspinall Unit's generating capacity. Additionally,
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3712-489: The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, and inadequate federal funding. By the early 1990s, the slow progress prompted state and local officials to ask Congress to empower the Central Utah Water Conservancy District to complete the planning and the construction of the remaining portions of the Central Utah Project, including the Bonneville Unit. The Central Utah Water Conservancy District
3828-500: The San Juan River near Farmington, New Mexico . The dam was completed in 1963, and was actually the first of the units in the project to be completed. Unlike the subsequent dams, Navajo Dam did not have any power generating capacity when built. A small plant with a capacity of 32 MW was installed in 1983 in conjunction with the city of Farmington to generate local power. The Aspinall Unit consists of 3 dams and reservoirs on
3944-794: The United States Department of the Interior , and the Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission , a federal commission created by the Central Utah Project Completion Act. The Central Utah Project Completion Act removed administrative responsibility for the Central Utah Project completion from the United States Bureau of Reclamation , placing it under the Office of the Secretary of
4060-704: The Wasatch County Water Efficiency Project , and the Daniels Replacement Project Title III of the Central Utah Project Completion Act created the Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission and gave it responsibility for coordinating and planning mitigation measures, administering funding that had been previously authorized for environmental mitigation , and administering funding authorized for mitigation under
4176-556: The World Bank or as a voluntary commitment by businesses. Environmental mitigation might be conducted using an environmental crediting system (like a biodiversity banking framework) established by governing bodies that allocate debits and credits . Examples of such systems include biodiversity banking (a way to carry out biodiversity offsetting ) and its various forms, including mitigation banking , habitat banking, species banking, or conservation banking , dependent on region or
4292-439: The 2000s but have thus far failed to restore the natural environment in the canyon. The project has changed the topography of the river with the heavy loads of silt trapped behind the dams deposited in the upper reaches of the reservoirs. These silt loads have filled up the inundated canyons and are now coming to the surface as the water levels in the reservoirs drop. The creation of large reservoirs and irrigation systems along
4408-673: The Bureau of Reclamation and other federal agencies delivered a report with proposed projects to the United States Congress in 1950. Among the proposed projects was a dam to be constructed on the Green River in Echo Park , in Dinosaur National Monument in Colorado. The proposal for Echo Park Dam created controversy and sparked the ire of Sierra Club director David Brower , who embarked on
4524-498: The Burns Bench Pumping Plant. By the time that the dam and aqueduct were nearing completion, it was clear the oil shale production would not begin for some time. As a result, the Burns Bench Pumping Plant was not constructed, reducing the Jensen Unit municipal and industrial water supply to 6,000 acre-feet (7,400,000 m). Of the 6,000-acre-foot (7,400,000 m) municipal and industrial project water supply,
4640-617: The CRSP but are not considered a part of the project itself. Eleven projects were included as participating projects in the 1956 legislation. These projects include: Wyoming's Eden Project was authorized independently in 1949. It was tied to the Colorado River Storage Project by the terms of its own authorization. An amendment to the legislation in 1962 added two projects to the participants list: A 1964 amendment added three more projects: The Colorado River Basin Project Act in 1968 added
4756-574: The Central Utah Project Completion Act Office for in-stream flows; and 40,310 acre-feet (49,720,000 m), minus conveyance losses, which will be delivered to Utah Lake for exchange to Jordanelle Reservoir under the Municipal and Industrial System. Of the 40,310 acre-feet (49,720,000 m), about 16,273 acre-feet (20,072,000 m) would be released down the Spanish Fork River during the winter months, an average of 16,000 acre-feet (20,000,000 m) would be conveyed through new pipelines to
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4872-581: The Central Utah Project Completion Act provided for the construction of the Uinta Basin Replacement Project to replace, in part, the Uintah and Upalco Units, which have never been constructed. The Central Utah Water Conservancy District completed the construction of the primary features of the Uintah Basin Replacement Project in 2006. Also, Public Law 107-366, enacted December 19, 2002, deauthorized
4988-538: The Central Utah Project Completion Act. Title IV of the Central Utah Project Completion Act lays out the mechanism for funding for the Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission. Title V of the Central Utah Project Completion Act contains the Ute Indian Rights Settlement . In 1965, the Ute Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Agency agreed to allow the Bureau of Reclamation to divert
5104-784: The Central Utah Project Completion Act. The first phase included the Syar Tunnel Inlet, the Syar Tunnel, the Sixth Water Aqueduct, and the Sixth Water Flow Control Structure, which together form a continuous 7.3-mile (11.7 km) conduit from Strawberry Reservoir to Sixth Water Creek and now discharges water into Sixth Water Creek. The second phase included the Diamond Fork Pipeline from Monks Hollow downstream to
5220-519: The Central Utah Project proceeded slowly because of: the complexity of the project; complex environmental analyses; and inadequate and sporadic Federal funding. The slow progress prompted state and local officials to ask Congress to empower the Central Utah Water Conservancy District to complete the planning and construction of the remaining portion of the CUP, specifically the Bonneville Unit. The Central Utah Project Completion Act ( CUPCA ) enacted on October 30, 1992, removed responsibility for completing
5336-436: The Central Utah Project, a federal water project, from the United States Bureau of Reclamation . For the first time in history, Congress designated a local entity (the Central Utah Water Conservancy District) as the planning and construction entity for a major Federal water project. Construction progress on the Bonneville Unit has been slow because of the complexity of the project, the need for environmental analyses required by
5452-437: The Central Utah Project, as originally planned and authorized, consisted of six units or sub-projects: the Bonneville Unit, the Jensen Unit, the Vernal Unit, the Uintah Unit, the Upalco Unit, and the Ute Indian Unit. The Bonneville Unit is in central and northeastern Utah and provides water for the following counties: Salt Lake County , Utah County , Wasatch County , Summit County , and Duchesne County . Bonneville Unit water
5568-409: The Colorado River drainage basin to Spanish Fork Canyon in the Bonneville Basin. The Diamond Fork System protects the Diamond Fork Creek and Sixth Water Creek riparian areas from damaging high flows. The Diamond Fork System was constructed in three main phases. The Bureau of Reclamation constructed the first phase; the Central Utah Water Conservancy District constructed the second and third phases under
5684-433: The Colorado River Delta anymore due to usage and evaporative loss within the Project. This has reduced the size of the estuary at the mouth of the river from 3,000 square miles to fewer than 250 square miles. Invasive species have become dominant in the Delta and the loss of this habitat has had wider implications for marine life in the Gulf of California. Environmental mitigation Environmental mitigation refers to
5800-473: The Colorado River basin. The Colorado River Storage Project is made up of four separate units, spread along the upper Colorado basin and its major tributaries. Also included are several participating projects located throughout the system. As a whole, the system provides a storage capacity of approximately 34,000,000 acre-feet (42 km ) of water. This capacity is released to meet the Colorado River Compact's delivery requirements during periods of low flow in
5916-418: The Duchesne River as partial mitigation for the Bonneville Unit. The project has been planned in conjunction with the tribe and is intended to fulfill longstanding commitments to mitigate for impacts on wetland-wildlife habitats that arise from construction and operation of the Strawberry Aqueduct and Collection System and to provide additional wetland/wildlife mitigation to the tribe. Originally proposed in 1965,
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#17327760135516032-473: The Grand Canyon, and on to the Colorado River Delta created sandbars and beaches along the river's course and throughout its canyons. These floods have been replaced with metered releases of cold, sediment-free water which has led to the erosion of sandbars in the Grand Canyon that are crucial for wildlife and has altered the food web within the river with natural species being displaced by invasive species. Attempts to simulate natural flood cycles were started in
6148-413: The Gunnison River upstream of the Morrow Point Dam forming the Blue Mesa Reservoir , making it the first dam the river passes through. The dam was completed in 1966 and has an electric generating capacity of 86,400 kilowatts, or about 30% of the Aspinall Unit's generating capacity. The Morrow Point Dam impounds the Gunnison River downstream from the Blue Mesa Dam but upstream of the Crystal Dam, forming
6264-413: The Interior. As a result, the Central Utah Project Completion Act Office, a branch of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Water and Science located in Provo , Utah , administers the Central Utah Project Completion Act and the completion of the Central Utah Project. That is: Title II of the Central Utah Project Completion Act: •*Authorized the construction of the Uinta Basin Replacement Project ,
6380-410: The Jensen Unit. Initial planning for the Jensen Unit in the 1970s anticipated full-scale oil shale production was imminent, requiring large amounts of municipal and industrial water. For that reason, the Jensen Unit water supply was skewed to municipal and industrial water development. The development of 12,000 acre-feet (15,000,000 m) of municipal and industrial water required the construction of
6496-402: The Morrow Point Dam is the first thin-arch concrete dam to be built in the Colorado River Storage Project system. The Crystal Dam impounds the Gunnison River about 6 miles (10 km) downstream from the Morrow Point Dam, making it the final dam in the Aspinall Unit. Completed in 1976, it is the last dam in both the Aspinall Unit and the Colorado River Storage Project to be completed, marking
6612-578: The UK, and South Africa comes under the term compensatory mitigation. Biodiversity offsets are classified as a type of mitigation measure and are defined in the United Nations ' biodiversity glossary as "measurable conservation outcomes resulting from actions designed to compensate for significant residual adverse biodiversity impacts arising from project development after appropriate prevention and mitigation measures have been taken." Climate change mitigation focuses specifically on actions to limit climate change by reducing net greenhouse gas emissions, while
6728-400: The Uinta Basin. Starvation Reservoir provides an average of approximately 43,000 acre-feet (53,000,000 m) of water annually to irrigators to replace water diverted in the Strawberry Aqueduct and Collection System to Strawberry Reservoir. The reservoir provides fishery benefits and public recreation. The Strawberry Aqueduct and Collection System, completed in the late 1980s, diverts part of
6844-595: The Uinta Unit, the Upalco Unit, and Ute Indian Unit. The largest and most complex is the Bonneville Unit, which diverts water from the Uinta Basin , a part of the Colorado River Basin, to the Lake Bonneville Basin. The other units were designed to provide for development of local water supplies in the Uinta Basin. The Central Utah Project develops water for irrigation, municipal, and industrial use; stream flows; and power generation. The project also provides recreation, fish and wildlife, flood control, water conservation , and water quality benefits. Construction progress on
6960-422: The Uintah and Upalco Units, transferring the authorization to the Bonneville Unit for construction of the Uintah Basin Replacement Project, Utah Lake System, and other Central Utah Project Completion Act purposes. The Ute Indian Unit included a pipeline from Flaming Gorge Dam and Reservoir to the Uinta Basin. Because of both engineering and environmental challenges, the Ute Indian Unit was never constructed. Under
7076-438: The United States. As part of this system, credits are purchased from mitigation banks by anyone who incurs a debit from impacts to wetlands and other aquatic habitats that cannot otherwise be avoided or reduced. Mitigation banks are sites where mitigation projects have been carried out, such as preservation, enhancement, restoration, or habitat creation. Separate from biodiversity offsetting, nature credits might be purchased as
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#17327760135517192-437: The Ute Indian Tribal Development Project is to mitigate stream-related fish and wildlife losses on Indian lands and other specific fish and wildlife losses associated with the Bonneville Unit. Bottle Hollow Reservoir was constructed to compensate the tribe for economic losses associated with stream fishing on the portion of Rock Creek located on the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation. With a surface area of 420 acres (1.7 km),
7308-445: The Vernal Unit began in 1959 and was completed in 1963. The Uintah Water Conservancy District operates the Vernal Unit. The Vernal Unit consists of Steinaker Dam and Reservoir and various diversion and conveyance facilities, including the Thornburgh Diversion Dam, the Steinaker Feeder Canal, and the Steinaker Service Canal. Flows of Ashley Creek are stored by Steinaker Dam, which was constructed off l-stream in Steinaker Draw. The dam
7424-400: The approval of the environmental assessment for the project. Construction of the turbines and generators began in late 2005, and construction of the building began in late 2006. The project is expected to be fully operational by summer of 2008. After completion of the ULS, the Diamond Fork System will allow for the full trans-basin diversion of Bonneville Unit water from Strawberry Reservoir in
7540-400: The aqueduct and storage in Strawberry Reservoir. Currant Creek Reservoir, with a total capacity of 15,671 acre-feet (19,330,000 m), diverts Currant Creek and five tributaries into the Strawberry Aqueduct. The Strawberry Aqueduct and Collection System provides 44,400 acre-feet (54,800,000 m) of instream flows for fishery mitigation purposes annually. The capacity of Strawberry Reservoir
7656-437: The aqueduct were completed in 1983. Drainage facilities were constructed for about 700 acres (2.8 km) of project land. The construction consists of 6.17 miles (9.93 km) of drains including 1.4 miles (2.3 km) of open outlet drains and 4.7 miles (7.6 km) of closed lateral drains. All drains have a design depth of about 10 feet (3.0 m). The land requiring drains was identified as either drainage-deficient at
7772-419: The bed of Big Brush Creek . The crest length is 1,670 feet (510 m) long and 30 feet (9.1 m) wide. Red Fleet Reservoir has a total capacity of 26,000 acre-feet (32,000,000 m), of which 24,000 acre-feet (30,000,000 m) is active storage. The reservoir has a surface area of 521 acres (2.11 km) at the normal water surface elevation of 5,608.2 feet (1,709.4 m). Tyzack Pumping Plant, near
7888-502: The clay foundation material downstream of the toe of the dam. Dam modification was completed in September 1994. The construction resulted in a stability berm at the downstream toe. The Thornburgh Diversion Dam diverts water from Ashley Creek and conveys it eastward to the Steinaker Reservoir by the 2.8-mile (4.5 km) Steinaker Feeder Canal. Reservoir water is released to Steinaker Service Canal and conveyed south 11.6 miles (18.7 km) to existing canals and ditches. Section 203(a) of
8004-433: The constructing the Burns Bench Pumping Plant has renewed. The Jensen Unit, as constructed, consists of the Red Fleet Dam and Reservoir, the Tyzack Pumping Plant and Aqueduct, and the irrigation drains. Construction of Red Fleet Dam and Reservoir began in 1977 and was completed in 1980. About 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Vernal, Utah , the dam is zoned earthfill with a structural height of 144 feet (44 m) above
8120-427: The dam in the beginning, later recanted his opinion and admitted that he had regretted supporting the project. Recent calls for the draining of Lake Powell and the restoration of Glen Canyon by environmental groups such as Sierra Club have resulted in the founding of several advocacy groups for the cause such as Living Rivers and Friends of Glen Canyon, as well as opposition groups such as Friends of Lake Powell. Given
8236-455: The development of environmental mitigation measures, like biodiversity offsetting and mitigation banking . A growing awareness of this has led to the expansion of legal requirements for environmental mitigation globally - 191 of the United Nations member states have Environment Impact Assessment legislation and more than 108 countries now have policies for biodiversity offsetting, a form of environmental mitigation. Environmental mitigation
8352-476: The downstream end of the outlet works of Red Fleet Dam, delivers water from the Red Fleet Reservoir through the discharge line to Ashley Valley Treatment Plant. It is designed to pump up to an average of 18,000 acre-feet (22,000,000 m) annually. The aqueduct is a pressurized pipe extending 11.7 miles (18.8 km) from the pumping plant to Ashley Creek. Construction of both the pumping plant and
8468-560: The environment are applied. According to the Business and Biodiversity Offsets Programme, mitigation is defined as "measures to reduce impacts to the point where they have no adverse effects", including avoidance, minimisation, restoration, offsetting and compensation. The term mitigation is used synonymously with biodiversity offsetting in some countries. For example, in the US, what is referred to as "biodiversity offsetting" in Australia,
8584-457: The fight to enact the Colorado River Storage Project. Brower was known to have fought regularly with Aspinall, going so far as to state that he had seen "dream after dream dashed on the stony continents of Wayne Aspinall". As a whole, the Aspinall Unit has a generating capacity of about 290 megawatts, or about 17% of the entire Colorado River Storage Project, making it the second most productive unit after Glen Canyon. The Blue Mesa Dam impounds
8700-534: The final completion of the system as a whole. Crystal Dam forms the Crystal Reservoir and has the smallest capacity of the hydroelectric dams in the system, providing some 31,500 kilowatts capacity, or just over 1% of the Aspinall Unit's capacity. A number of water management projects in various locations of the upper Colorado River basin are considered participating projects in the Colorado River Storage Project. These projects are financially related to
8816-811: The final planning document (the Supplement to the 1988 Definite Plan Report for the Bonneville Unit) l, which was approved by the Central Utah Project Completion Act Office and Reclamation on November 19, 2004. Contracts for implementation of the ULS have been negotiated and were executed on March 15, 2005. Construction of the ULS began in 2007. The Utah Lake System includes the following features: These features will deliver Utah Lake System municipal and industrial secondary water to southern Utah County cities; deliver water to Hobble Creek to provide June sucker spawning flows and supplemental flow during other times of
8932-432: The flows of Rock Creek and eight other tributaries of the Duchesne River and conveys the diverted flows through the 36.8-mile (59.2 km)-long Strawberry Aqueduct to Strawberry Reservoir . Upper Stillwater Reservoir, with a capacity of 32,009 acre-feet (39,483,000 m), serves as a regulating reservoir at the head of the Strawberry Aqueduct to provide temporary storage during the high runoff period for later diversion to
9048-472: The form of credits. Developers can purchase credits from mitigation banks to offset the "debit" of negative environmental impacts with the aim of achieving no net loss of wetlands. No net loss is the policy objective used to guide compensatory mitigation in the United States, but has since expanded to other countries, where no net loss of biodiversity may be required as the aim of environmental mitigation measures like biodiversity offsets. Conservation banking
9164-528: The goals of the system for conservation. This might be done with a specific objective, such as no net loss of wetlands for mitigation banking in the United States or no net loss of biodiversity for habitat banks in Colombia. Credits are generated by banks where a natural resource has been deemed to be improved through conservation or preservation activities at the bank site. Debits arise where significant adverse environment impacts (such as degradation of
9280-629: The highest arch bridge in the world. It currently serves as one of only two bridges to cross the Colorado River between Lake Mead and Lake Powell, carrying the majority of the traffic between northern Arizona and southern Utah. The Flaming Gorge Unit consists of the Flaming Gorge Dam and the Flaming Gorge Reservoir , and the dam's powerplant. The dam impounds the Green River near Dutch John, Utah . Portions of
9396-475: The importance of the unit to the project as well as its impact as a tourist destination to the region, restoration efforts face significant opposition and there currently exist no plans to cease operations at Glen Canyon. Not directly a part of the project but built as a direct result of it, the Glen Canyon Dam Bridge was constructed over the river in 1959. At the time of its completion it was
9512-673: The introduction of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and with other regulations that require compensatory mitigation for some projects. In the United States, compensatory mitigation is a commonly used form of environmental mitigation and, for some projects, it is legally required under the Clean Water Act 1972 . Compensatory mitigation is defined by the US Department of Agriculture as "measures to restore, create, enhance, and preserve wetlands to offset unavoidable adverse impacts." Early wetland compensatory mitigation
9628-500: The lessee. By a process of requesting and reviewing proposals, the Central Utah Project Completion Act Office and the Western Area Power Administration selected the Central Utah Water Conservancy District and Heber Light & Power as joint potential lessees for power development at Jordanelle Dam. The Central Utah Project Completion Act Office and the lessees executed a lease agreement in 2005, after
9744-490: The local water users could use only 2,000 acre-feet (2,500,000 m). In Section 203 (g) of the Central Utah Project Completion Act, Congress instructed the Department of the Interior to enter into a contract to reduce the municipal and industrial repayment obligation to 2,000 acre-feet (2,500,000 m) and to describe the procedure for future marketing of the remaining municipal and industrial water. Congress also doubled
9860-549: The lower Colorado River states, California and Nevada . As a stipulation of that compact, the upper basin states were required to ensure an annual flow of no less than 7,500,000 acre-feet (9.3 km ) be delivered to the lower basin states. However, the annual flow of the Colorado River at Lee's Ferry in Arizona, the established dividing point, was extremely erratic, ranging from 4,000,000 acre-feet (4.9 km ) to 22,000,000 acre-feet (27 km ). This led to an inability of
9976-531: The lower Provo River to assist in meeting in-stream flows, and about 8,037 acre-feet (9,913,000 m) would be conveyed to Hobble Creek to assist in the recovery of the June sucker, an endangered fish indigenous to Utah Lake. The Jensen Unit, in Uintah County in northeastern Utah, serves Ashley Valley and the area that extends east of the valley to the Green River . The Jensen Unit, as originally planned,
10092-601: The mitigation hierarchy are often embedded within regulations to govern Environmental Impact Assessments and environmental licensing systems to evaluate and mitigate the environmental impacts of economic development. Variations to the classical mitigation hierarchy have been proposed, like the Mitigation and Conservation Hierarchy and the Science Based Target Network's AR3T framework. In addition to its use for biodiversity, alternate versions of
10208-449: The mitigation hierarchy have been proposed for different sectors, such as waste, food waste, energy, and carbon. The Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act in 1934 included the first legal expressions of the duty to minimise and compensate for negative environmental impacts. The act was a response to the impacts of rapid urban expansion and dam building in the US on salmon and other migratory fish. These efforts were later expanded on with
10324-481: The mouth of Diamond Fork Canyon. The Diamond Fork System will remove a portion of the Strawberry Valley Project irrigation flows that were historically conveyed down Sixth Water Creek and Diamond Fork Creek. In-stream flows specified in the Central Utah Project Completion Act will be released into Sixth Water Creek and lower Diamond Fork Creek to enhance fisheries in these streams. The purpose of
10440-637: The mouth of Diamond Fork Creek. The third phase, now completed, bad a tunnel connection to the Sixth Water Shaft and Flow Control Structure, Tanner Ridge Tunnel, Upper Diamond Fork Pipeline, Upper Diamond Fork Flow Control Structure, connection to Upper Diamond Fork Tunnel, Upper Diamond Fork Tunnel, and connection to the Diamond Fork Pipeline. Flow control structures are located at Sixth Water Creek, Upper Diamond Fork Creek, and at Monks Hollow. The 19.8-mile (31.9 km)-long conduit will convey Bonneville Unit water and Strawberry Valley Project water to
10556-478: The otherwise arid southwest regions. The project has changed the ecosystem in the Colorado River, including in Grand Canyon National Park . Glen Canyon Dam in particular has been the subject of much environmental criticism. Water trapped behind the dams cools and drops its sediment load in the reservoirs. Natural floods of warm sediment-rich water flowing down the Colorado River, through
10672-478: The overall generating capacity of the project. In spite of its importance to the system, the Glen Canyon Unit has also been the source of controversy even before it began operating in 1964. Sierra Club director David Brower, who was partially responsible for the location of the dam as part of a compromise, later regretted the decision. Former Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater , who was a proponent of
10788-606: The plan was passed into law by Congress in 1956. The legislation called for the construction of dams , reservoirs and related works at Curecanti in Colorado, Flaming Gorge in Wyoming, Navajo in New Mexico and Glen Canyon in Arizona. All but the Navajo project were to include power generation capabilities; the Navajo project was intended as flood control only. Also included in the legislation were several related projects in
10904-434: The principles of the mitigation hierarchy to environmental impact assessments that address the impacts of businesses and governments on the environment, including on biodiversity and ecosystem services . In this context, the mitigation hierarchy is usually applied with the goal of achieving no net loss . In some jurisdictions, the application of the mitigation hierarchy is required by law. Requirements for compliance with
11020-735: The process by which measures to avoid, minimise, or compensate for adverse impacts on the environment are applied. In the context of planning processes like Environmental Impact Assessments , this process is often guided by applying conceptual frameworks like the "mitigation hierarchy" or "mitigation sequence". This generally includes the steps avoid, reduce, restore, and offset. In some countries, environmental mitigation measures, including biodiversity offsetting , may be required by law. In practice, environmental mitigation measures might be implemented by establishing new habitat, restoring degraded habitat , and preserving or enhancing existing habitats to offset impacts that cannot be avoided or reduced. It
11136-709: The project has undergone recent planning revisions and a final EIS will be published in 2008. The Utah Lake System (ULS) is the final phase of the Bonneville Unit. On September 30, 2004, the Central Utah Project Completion Act Office filed the Utah Lake System Final Environmental Impact Statement l, and on December 22, 2004, the Assistant Secretary for Water and Science signed the Utah Lake System Record of Decision. The district completed
11252-557: The provisions of the Ute Indian Rights Settlement , the United States settled with the Ute Tribe of the Uinta and Ouray Reservation for its failure to complete the Ute Indian Unit. The reservoirs constructed as part of the Central Utah Project offer recreation opportunities. Jordanelle Reservoir is the newest reservoir, constructed in the 1980s. There are two main developed recreation areas, Hailstone and Rock Cliff. Hailstone
11368-651: The recreation season. Utah State Parks reconstructed and expanded the boat ramp at Rock Cliff in 2004. Additional parking was also installed to accommodate the increasing numbers of visitors. The Rock Cliff Nature Center received a Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Heritage Preservation . The nature center will use funds and CAP expertise to identify conservation needs of its collection and to recommend ways to improve collection conditions. Colorado River Storage Project The Colorado River Storage Project
11484-516: The reservoir provides fishing opportunities, wildlife habitat, and a basis for recreation-oriented enterprises to provide additional employment and income for tribal members. The Lower Duchesne River Wetlands Mitigation Project, currently being planned by the Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission, the Central Utah Project Completion Act Office and the Ute Tribe, will create, restore, and otherwise enhance riparian wetland habitats along
11600-551: The reservoir spill over into Southern Wyoming near the city of Green River. Completed in 1964, the dam provides water storage and hydroelectric generation, as well as flood control on the Green River, the primary tributary to the Colorado. The powerplant in the dam has a capacity of 153 megawatts or about 8.5% of the entire system. The Navajo Unit consists of the Navajo Dam and the Navajo Lake reservoir. The dam impounds
11716-419: The river as part of the project has increased the surface area of the Colorado River and the length of time the water is held in the basin which in turn increases the amount of water lost to evaporation. Some estimates indicate that 8.5 million acre feet of water is being lost each year, equivalent to the average amount of water released from Lake Powell to Lake Mead. Water from the Colorado River rarely reaches
11832-399: The river's basin. The project's original scope, and primary focus, are the upper Colorado River itself, the Green River , the San Juan River , and the Gunnison River . Participating states are Arizona , Utah , New Mexico , Colorado and Wyoming . Attempts at managing the water supply in the upper Colorado River basin were first recorded in 1854 at Fort Supply in Wyoming, when water
11948-415: The same habitat. The principle of quantifying biodiversity value by using credit and debit units is debated, with some people considering it an impossible task or reject the idea for ethical reasons. The use of credit ratios has been proposed as a method to address uncertainties. In the United States, regulators often assign 'mitigation ratios' in the case of compensatory mitigation agreements. The ratio
12064-555: The scope of environmental mitigation is broader. Biodiversity loss is occurring on a global scale and humans are driving this through changes in land use, exploitation of organisms, climate change , pollution , and invasive species . According to WWF's Living Planet Report, these drivers are underpinned by rapid economic growth and human population growth over the past 50 years. The need to address biodiversity loss and to reconcile this with economic development so that sustainability and conservation goals can be met has motivated
12180-602: The size of the conservation pool in Red Fleet Reservoir to 4,000 acre-feet (4,900,000 m). The expanded conservation pool reduced the yield of the reservoir by 700 acre-feet (860,000 m) and thereby reduced the unmarketed municipal and industrial supply to 3,300 acre-feet (4,100,000 m). In the 1990s, Reclamation discovered that irrigation drains constructed as part of the project were delivering unacceptable levels of selenium to Stewart Lake. In 1999, Reclamation committed 780 acre-feet (960,000 m) of
12296-462: The system. While the dam is located near Page in northern Arizona, the majority of Lake Powell resides in southern Utah. With a total storage capacity of 27,000,000 acre-feet (33 km ) of water in Lake Powell, the Glen Canyon Unit accounts for over 64% of the system's overall water storage capacity. The 1,296 megawatt capacity of the dam's hydroelectric generators accounts for almost 75% of
12412-563: The system. Additionally, three of the units provide hydroelectric power to major markets in the southwest. Lee's Ferry in Arizona serves as the southern boundary point for the project, which encompasses the Colorado River upstream from this point and all tributaries. The Glen Canyon Unit, which consists of the Glen Canyon Dam , Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon Powerplant, is the largest and most important unit of
12528-502: The time of investigation or likely to develop deficiencies after, the project's development. The Vernal Unit is located near Vernal, in the Ashley Valley of northeastern Utah. The Vernal Unit provides a supplemental water supply for the irrigation of about 14,781 acres (59.82 km) as well as 1,600 acre-feet (2,000,000 m) of municipal and industrial water for the communities of Vernal, Naples , and Maeser . Construction of
12644-436: The unmarketed municipal and industrial supply from the reservoir to Stewart Lake for mitigation purposes, which left an available unmarketed municipal and industrial supply of 2,520 acre-feet (3,110,000 m). In recent years, oil production in the area has boomed, and oil shale production is approaching feasibility. Accordingly, water user interest in contracting for the remaining unmarketed municipal and industrial supply and
12760-507: The upper basin states to meet the minimum delivery requirements to the lower states in dry years, and a loss of significant surpluses in wet years. In order to regulate the flow of the Colorado and ensure compliance with the compact, a study was undertaken that determined a series of dams and reservoirs on the river and its tributaries would be necessary. A joint effort between the Upper Colorado River Commission,
12876-574: The year, deliver water for supplemental flow in the lower Provo River, deliver municipal and industrial raw water to the Provo Reservoir Canal and the Jordan Aqueduct for conveyance to water treatment plants in Salt Lake County, and generate electric power incident to water deliveries at two hydropower plants. The proposed Sixth Water Powerplant will have a capacity of 45 MWh and the proposed Upper Diamond Fork Powerplant will have
12992-538: Was completed in 1970. The system provides water for irrigation and municipal and industrial use, flood control, recreation, and fish and wildlife benefits in the Duchesne County area of the Uinta Basin. Water storage is provided by the 167,310-acre-foot (206,370,000 m) Starvation Reservoir , located on the Strawberry River , just above its confluence with the Duchesne River. Starvation Reservoir
13108-570: Was diverted from Blacks Fork to irrigate local lands. Subsequent diversions of the waters in the Colorado basin led to preliminary investigations of means to develop the system as early as 1902 when the Bureau of Reclamation, then known as the Reclamation Service, was established. Serious consideration for the project began when the Colorado River Compact was signed in 1922 by the participating states, as well as
13224-938: Was enlarged from 273,000 acre-feet (337,000,000 m) to 1,106,500 acre-feet (1.3648 × 10 m) by the construction of Soldier Creek Dam on the Strawberry River. Some of the water stored in the reservoir is released to the Strawberry River to provide fishery flows, but most of the stored water is for trans-basin diversion to the Bonneville Basin. In addition to water supply, the Strawberry Aqueduct and Collection System provides flood control, recreation, and fish and wildlife benefits. The Bonneville Unit Municipal and Industrial System provides municipal and industrial water to Salt Lake, Utah, and Wasatch Counties and supplemental irrigation water to Wasatch and Summit Counties. The system provides flood control, recreation, and fish and wildlife benefits. Jordanelle Dam (363,354 acre-feet (448,191,000 m), completed in 1994), near Heber City ,
13340-410: Was intended to develop about 22,600 acre-feet (27,900,000 m) of water annually: 18,000 acre-feet (22,000,000 m) for municipal and industrial use and 4,600 acre-feet (5,700,000 m) for irrigation; 444 acres (180 ha) agricultural acres receive a full irrigation water supply and 3,640 acres (1,470 ha) receive a supplemental water supply. The Uintah Water Conservancy District operates
13456-429: Was regarded as a failure. One of the main methods of compensatory mitigation in the US is mitigation banking , a market-based method to offset adverse impacts to wetlands (or streams and other bodies of water) that cannot be either avoided or reduced. This is done by selling credits from mitigation banks, which are sites where activities to preserve, enhance, create, or restore aquatic habitat are conducted and valued in
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