By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News correspondent
Juab County Commissioners participated in an open house,
project tour, and wrote a letter to enter as official
comment in a scoping meeting held in September.
A few members of the Central Utah Water Conservancy
District board attended commission meeting to thank
commissioners for their interest and input.
The comment period for the Utah Lake Drainage Basin
Water Delivery System of the Central Utah Project (CUP) will
end on Oct. 31, 2000.
Chris Finlinson, governmental affairs director; Lee
Wimmer, assistant general manager; and Ross Garrett, Afton
Blood and Tim Doxey, board members, met to thank the
commission for the interest the three of them&emdash;Wm.
Boyd Howarth, Joseph Bernini, and Robert Steele&emdash;had
exhibited.
"The alternatives to be considered will be ready in
2001," said Wimmer. At that time, commissioners will be
given another opportunity to respond, he said.
"I just want you to remember one fact," said Howarth,
"Juab County is 30 miles away and Utah Lake is 40 miles away
(from the end of the current construction)."
One of the reasons water needs to be placed in Utah
Lake, said Wimmer, was that 85,000 acre-feet of water in the
lake needed to be protected and the agreement was that would
be done.
"We are the last guarantor of the lake and, as a
result, we will need to put water in Utah Lake."
The part of the CUP plan to bring water to East Juab
County needs to be honored, said Howarth.
"Promises have been made, taxes paid, and the water
needs to be delivered," he said.
There are three essential items necessary for life,
said Howarth. "Without air a person cannot survive more than
30 seconds, without water a person cannot survive more than
24 hours, and without food a person can live up to two
weeks."
Water could make a difference in Juab County.
"We don't have any natural lakes," Steele said. "The
water from Juab reservoir goes directly to Mills."
Other than that, the water in other reservoirs goes
out of the county&emdash;Mona Reservoir benefits Utah County
and Yuba Reservoir benefits Millard county (Delta in
particular).
Juab Valley, he said, needs water resource
development.
"We (Juab County residents) are dependent on Mount
Nebo for our water supply," said Garrett, who is a resident
of Nephi. "If we have a good snow pack, we are in good
shape, if we do not, we are not."
However, he said, Santaquin, Spanish Fork, and other
communities between the two, were also dependent on Mount
Nebo as a source of water supply.
"The board has been very supportive of our need for
receiving water from CUP," said Garrett.
Wimmer said construction is being done in Diamond Fork
where a four mile tunnel is now underway. It will take some
time to deliver water through the tunnel, however. The
project has a completion date of June 2003.
On the Strawberry water system there is already a
six-mile long tunnel.
"The Monks Hollow pipeline project has been dropped
and will no longer be built," said Wimmer.
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