By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent

The Central Utah Water Conservancy District (CUWCD), in cooperation with the Nephi Irrigation Company, has been authorized to implement an irrigation enhancement project.
The DOI (Department of the Interior) has decided to authorize implementation a project of installing approximately 2,200-feet of pipeline east of I-15 (Salt Creek diversion irrigation pipeline).
Don A. Christiansen, General Manager of CUWCD, said the project would install a perforated infiltration pipeline and could also include infiltration facilities east of I-15 to recharge the groundwater basin.
“This is Phase 2 of the project,” he said.
In addition to installing the 2,200-feet of pipeline, the project will rehabilitate up to five existing Nephi Irrigation Company groundwater wells to restore the pumping capacity to the full water right flow rate.
It will also install a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system to increase the efficiency of water management; install approximately 5,000 feet of pipeline extensions within the lateral distribution system; add up to 12 new booster pump locations; and install approximately 2,800 feet of overhead power line extensions and service connections to the new booster pump locations.
“This is not the project we would have liked for East Juab County,” said Christiansen. “It isn’t the original project we wanted to bring to Nephi.”
However, it was a good project and is an attempt to replace with a positive some of the negatives which resulted from the dropped project. The original proposal was to build a large pipeline into the Nephi area which would carry 42,000 acre-feet of new water to the area.
“New water” means that the water would have come from outside the area. Existing water is being used in the Phase II project. It has been part of the system since the area was settled by pioneers.
Phase 1 was built some years ago and involved laying pipeline from the east of Nephi to the west and eliminating most of the concrete ditches which had been used to convey irrigation water until then.
This Phase 2 project is intended to achieve the following purposes: Facilitate the conjunctive use of surface and groundwater resources, complete the EJWEP to make the irrigation system more efficient, increase on-farm water use efficiency, reduce irrigation water shortages by reducing distribution and conveyance system losses, restore well pumping capacity to the full existing water rights, provide a minimum of 25 pounds per square inch (psi) of pressure throughout the system to allow all water users to convert existing flood irrigation methods to sprinkler irrigation, recharge surplus local surface water supplies in order to augment the yield of the local groundwater basin.
“More likely, the pipe for the project will be laid in the fall of 2010, after irrigation water has been used for the spring and summer,” said Lee Wimmer, Assistant CUWCD General Manager and CUPCA Program Manager.
“Bids should go out in about 30 days,” he said.
DOI and CUWCD have carried out public involvement activities and, during scoping, the project team consulted specifically with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Utah Regulatory Office and the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.
The operation of the Salt Creek diversion irrigation pipeline will result in Salt Creek channel, east of I-15, being dewatered seasonally. West of I-15, it is anticipated that the operation of the Salt Creek diversion irrigation pipeline, east of I-15, would result in up to approximately 7 cfs more surface water in Salt Creek channel through Nephi than has historically been the case.
The Utah State Historic Preservation Office concurred that the proposed project would have “no adverse effect.”
Construction activities may potentially create temporary traffic congestion in the project area. Specifically, the delivery of materials and installation of pipelines or booster pumps may cause short-term traffic delays on State Route 132 or local roadways in Nephi. Coordination with City officials will take place to provide notification of construction periods and possible transportation detours.
The project will provide short-term economic benefits through goods purchased and labor hired for engineering, construction, and maintenance.
Access will be maintained to all businesses during construction.
“The project could take up to three years,” said Wimmer.
As a result of reducing or removing water from the channel seasonally, some vegetation along that stretch of Salt creek channel may eventually show signs of stress or die but no mitigation is planned.
The project is located within, and adjacent to, the incorporated boundaries of Nephi and is intended to conjunctively use surface and groundwater to increase the efficiency of local water use, facilitate the conversion to sprinkler irrigation and minimize irrigation water shortages.
Construction of Phase 2 of the EJWEP will be completed by the CUWCD on the behalf of the East Juab County Water Conservancy District (EJCWCD).
The project is intended to provide a minimum of 25 pounds per square inch (psi) of pressure throughout the system to allow all water users to convert existing flood irrigation methods to sprinkler irrigation and recharge surplus local surface water supplies in order to augment the yield of the local groundwater basin.
Under the authority of the 1992 Central Utah Project Completion Act (CUPCA), the majority of the funding (65 percent) for Phase 2 of the EJWEP will be obtained through CUPCA or from the federal government. The remaining costs will be the responsibility of the CUWCD and the Nephi Irrigation Company.
Salt Creek flows between the San Pitch Mountains and Mount Nebo and formed a very broad alluvial delta in Juab Valley, upon which the community of Nephi was built.