A proposed reservoir outside of Zion National Park is one step closer to reality after lawmakers marked a $10 million request for funding as a priority on Feb 7.
The Cove-East Fork Virgin River Watershed project would put an off-stream reservoir — meaning the water would be piped in rather than building a dam on the Virgin River — near Orderville, roughly 10-15 miles east of the national park boundary.
But environmental advocates have been sounding the alarm since details of the project were unveiled in 2020, writing to the U.S. Department of Agriculture that the reservoir was proposed under false pretenses to secure a federal loan.
Although it’s a Kane County proposal, much of that water would actually flow down to Washington County. According to the environmental assessment released in 2020, the project will be primarily used to irrigate just under 5,000 acres of agricultural land near St. George.
Leading the charge is Mike Noel, a former Republican member of the Utah House of Representatives who now heads the Kane County Water Conservancy District. Noel presented this month during the Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environmental Quality Appropriations Subcommittee.
“This is a really important project,” Noel said, telling lawmakers it will help reduce evaporation and that the water is not part of the state’s Colorado River allocation. “It has a tremendous value both for agriculture and for M and I (municipal and industrial) water.”
At 6,000 acre-feet, it would be a relatively small reservoir. By comparison, Little Dell Reservoir outside of Salt Lake City is over 20,000 acre-feet (an acre-foot would submerge an acre of land in one foot of water). But the state hasn’t built a reservoir since the Jordanelle was completed in 1992, and several lawmakers during the meeting said the state is ready for more water infrastructure projects.
“This is low-hanging fruit,” said Sen. Derrin Owens, R-Fountain Green, who sponsored the request for funding this legislative session. “We all know that we need to save water, to secure water. Here’s two counties that are coming together with a proposal that will do just that.”
It’s expected to cost just under $37 million, with funding likely coming from county, state and federal dollars. Estimates vary, but Noel said about 60-65% will be covered by a loan from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, or NRCS, where U.S. taxpayers would shoulder 75% of the cost as long as it’s an agricultural project.
That’s what causes heartburn for some environmental groups, who have claimed since 2020 that the project’s proponents are exaggerating its agricultural benefits.
Shortly after the environmental assessment was released, a coalition of nonprofits spearheaded by the Utah Rivers Council challenged the claim that the water would be used for agriculture. Some of the 5,000 acres labeled as “cropland” in Washington County was already subdivided, laden with upscale suburban homes, a church and even a school, they wrote in a 2021 letter to the USDA Inspector General.
“It was immediately clear that it was not agricultural,” said Zach Frankel, the executive director of the Utah Rivers Council.
The Utah Rivers Council sent a volunteer to the area who took pictures of the subdivisions that were later sent to the USDA. About a week after the nonprofits submitted their complaint, the NRCS changed course and decided to conduct a much lengthier and involved environmental impact statement.
“During the process of this project, we determined further investigation was in the best interest of ensuring we are addressing the water resource needs of the communities involved,” a spokesperson for the NRCS said in a statement. “Through that process, and taking into consideration the complexity of the project, and comments from the public, NRCS determined EIS to be the best course of action going forward.”
The environmental impact statement is still pending, and the NRCS says its goal is to release it this summer. Frankel says it’s premature for the state to award the project $10 million while the NRCS is still analyzing it.
“The only document that we’ve ever seen publicly is that it’s for agriculture. If the project is a trick to use agriculture funds to build a municipal water project, then the public should know that,” he said. “If the project is essentially unlawful, should the legislature fund it?”
Zach Renstrom, general manager for the Washington County Water Conservancy District, pushed back on the criticism. The project has been in the works for nearly 30 years, he said, dating back to an agreement between the state and federal government in 1996 that allowed for the construction of a reservoir.
“This is just part of the process,” he said about trying to secure state funding before the NRCS analysis is complete. “NRCS isn’t going to send the funds and then just walk away. They want to know where the other portion is coming from.”
Renstrom said that the “vast majority” of water stored in the reservoir will go toward agriculture. Anyone claiming the water would go elsewhere “hasn’t fully looked into the project,” he said.
“This is just a continuation of a very large settlement with Zion National Park that was recognized as a very positive collaboration between the federal, local and state governments,” he said, telling Utah News Dispatch, “I find it funny that something that was heralded as such a positive and proactive thing” is receiving pushback.
“Solving environmental processes but still ensuring water, I don’t understand the criticism on that,” Renstrom said.
Owens said he wasn’t aware of any controversy. But in response, he said the counties know best.
“If we’re going to be wise stewards of our water, which we need to be, this is just a natural next step. We should be building many of these in the state, wherever we can afford them,” he said.
With the Cove-East Fork project in particular, Owens said that “agriculture is the main thing we need to use it for, but we can have a win-win use of the water as well” if some of it goes towards municipal use.
There’s no guarantee that the project will receive state dollars, with lawmakers ranking it 22 out of 24 requests for funding.
Written by KYLE DUNPHEY, Utah News Dispatch
Utah News Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Utah News Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor McKenzie Romero for questions: [email protected]. Follow Utah News Dispatch on Facebook and Twitter.