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.
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, 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 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.
Central Utah Project Completion Act The Central Utah Project Completion Act (CUPCA) enacted on October 30, 1992, removed responsibility for completing 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 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 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, 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 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: Construction of the remainder of the Central Utah Project became the responsibility of the local water district—the Central Utah Water Conservancy District The Central Utah Project Completion Act established the Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission to oversee facilities to mitigate for the environmental effects of the Central Utah Project; and The Central Utah Project Completion Act placed responsibility for oversight of the project with the Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior.
Key Elements Water for the Future – The Central Utah Project Completion Act authorizes sufficient Federal funds to complete the Central Utah Project. The construction of CUP facilities provides water for Utah's future—including the future of the Uinta Basin. The Uinta Basin Replacement Project is a key element of the construction authorized under Central Utah Project Completion Act. Recreation Opportunities – Central Utah Project facilities provide a range of recreational opportunities. Fiscal Responsibility – The Central Utah Project Completion Act created a cost-sharing environment under which local funds augment federal funding in the planning and construction of Central Utah Project features—which engenders additional fiscal responsibility. Environmental Commitments – The Central Utah Project Completion Act created the Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission to coordinate and plan mitigation measures to meet environmental mitigation and conservation measures (including environmental commitments that preceded the Central Utah Project Completion Act). The Central Utah Project Completion Act also includes provisions for maintaining steam flows at prescribed minimum rates for the benefit of aquatic and riparian habitat. Water Conservation – The Central Utah Project Completion Act authorizes substantial funding for the planning and implementation of water conservation measures and projects. Local Development – The Central Utah Project Completion Act provides funding for local water development projects in areas that do not benefit directly from the Central Utah Project. Ute Indian Rights Settlement – CUPCA encourages the Northern Ute Tribe to quantify by compact its federal reserved water rights. It also settle long-outstanding claims against the United States arising out of the construction of the CUP by authorizing substantial funds to compensate the Ute Tribe for construction projects not undertaken by the United States. These funds provide for agricultural development, fish and wildlife enhancement, recreation improvement, and economic development.
Title II Title II of the Central Utah Project Completion Act: Authorized the District to plan and construct the remaining project features Provided additional project ceiling to complete the project •*Authorized the construction of the Uinta Basin Replacement Project, the Wasatch County Water Efficiency Project, and the Daniels Replacement Project Authorized funding for development of local water projects Established benchmarks for water conservation and authorized funding to assist in meeting those benchmarks, *Placed the oversight of the project completion under the Office of the Secretary of the Interior Authorized Reclamation to provide technical assistance.
Title III 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 the Central Utah Project Completion Act.
Title IV 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 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 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.
Units As noted above, 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.
Bonneville 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 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 a permanent supply of of irrigation water and 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 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.
Starvation Collection System The Starvation Collection System 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 Starvation Reservoir, located on the Strawberry River, just above its confluence with the Duchesne River. Starvation Reservoir 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 of irrigation water and of municipal and industrial water for use in the Uinta Basin. Starvation Reservoir provides an average of approximately 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.
Strawberry Aqueduct and Collection System