Under the Bear River Development Act of 1992, the state of Utah is charged with developing 220,000 acre-feet of Bear River water, largely for use on lawns along the booming Wasatch Front. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the state of Utah and water suppliers were vigorously pursuing two dam sites – the Honeyville and Amalga-Barrens sites. The Utah Rivers Council organized a diverse coalition of ranchers, Shoshone Nation members, taxpayer advocates, and conservationists to educate elected officials about the harmful effects of these dams and about alternatives.
After a long fight, the Council and our allies prevailed, passing a bill in the 2002 Utah Legislature that prevented construction of the two dams. This was an enormous victory that underlined the fact that diverse groups of people can come together to protect the rivers and rural landscapes of Utah.
Current plans for Bear River development
Despite the Honeyville/Amalga victory, the Bear River Development Act remains on the books. The state and water suppliers continue to advocate for damming and diverting the Bear…despite the existence of cheaper water alternatives that don’t harm our rivers and rural areas.
A two-step development plan is under development by the Utah Division of Water Resources (DWRe). Both parts of the plan would send water south to support growth and on the Wasatch Front. The first, and likely most imminent, step is a pipeline that would pump water directly from the Bear River to the Willard Bay State Park reservoir. The second step is the creation of an off-river reservoir in the Malad River Valley directly east of the town of Washakie in Box Elder County.
The diversions would supply municipal water to the booming Wasatch Front. The DWRe has yet to define the exact diversion location, water amounts, costs, and timing, but some details are available for each of the steps:
Pipeline to Willard Bay State Park
This part of the plan envisions diverting water from the Bear below Cutler Dam and sending it south to the Willard Bay State Park reservoir. An engineer with DWRe stated that up to 100,000 acre-feet of water annually could be diverted to Willard Bay without any retrofitting of the reservoir. According to DWRe, the amount and timing of water pumped directly from the Bear River to Willard Bay depends largely on water availability and the water rights of the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. Water quality concerns may trip up this plan – the Bear’s water is of lower quality than that currently in the Willard Bay reservoir.
Washakie Reservoir
The second part of the proposal under consideration is the creation of a reservoir in the Malad River Valley directly east of the town of Washakie in Box Elder County. The Washakie Reservoir would hold 160,000 to 185,000 acre-feet of water in a reservoir surrounded by a dike 66 to 71 feet high – essentially a gigantic bathtub. Building this bathtub would require the rerouting and rip-rapping of several miles of the Malad River – a river already identified as impaired by the state. The surface area of the reservoir would be between 4,906 and 5,058 acres, so the reservoir will loose a large percentage of water to evaporation.
What it all means
The two diversions would reduce the average annual outflow of the Bear by 18 percent; in a low water year, the diversions would take as much as 70 percent of the flow. The proposal is flawed for many reasons, but here are just some of the big problems with plans to divert the Bear River:
- It threatens the Bear River delta. The Bear River delta’s world-renowned bird migrations may be severely impaired by reduced flows, which can cause problems with crowding, disease, and feeding.
- The Great Salt Lake may see drastic changes in lake levels, salinity, and habitat area. The Bear River contributes 60 percent of the Lake’s annual surface inflow, so changes in the Bear’s flow translate to changes in the Lake.
- Development threatens the highly productive wetlands of the Bear River. Of the 815,079 acres of wetlands in Utah, approximately 150,000 acres are located in Box Elder County and 75 percent of the county’s wetlands are adjacent to the Bear River.
- It just plain costs too much. Current estimates for the development range from $500 million to $1 billion.
- Cheaper, non-harmful alternatives exist. Water conservation, agricultural water transfers and other strategies can supply water while delaying or avoiding development altogether.
In addition to acting as watchdog of efforts to push ill-conceived Bear River development forward without public scrutiny, the Council is building a strong coalition to protect the critical wetlands of the Great Salt Lake. To learn more, visit www.utahrivers.org. To get involved in the work to protect the Bear, contact the Utah Rivers Council at 801-486-4776.