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mentation Program) is currently under way to recover two endangered fish (the Colorado pikeminnow and razorback sucker) in the San Juan River. Initiated in 1992, the program is intended to run tor 15 years. A seven year study is under way to determine what flows are needed from reservoirs and dams and when. The program is expected to cost upwards of $18 million to implement and approximately $600.000 a year to operate after completion of the study. mrmI It was undoubtedly hot when the Mormons arrived in Utah in July of 1847. Their need to develop a steady water supply in order to irrigate Utah's and plains was paramount for survival. The Mormon religion provided a perfect structure on which to develop their water management. Fleeing ostracism in the East and finally settling in the Great Salt Lake Valley, the Mormons arrived in Utah a tightly knit group. A cooperative effort began, under the leadership of Brigham Young. to provide the water essential for growing crops. The Mormons developed irrigation systems to augment the limited and insufficient amounts of rainfall needed to farm. Today, over 340.000 acres are irrigated with water from the Colorado. Because most of Utah is a desert ecosystem, maintaining a steady water supply is mandatory. As the population in Utah is expected to increase by an additional 1 million people to nearly 3 million residents by 2020. it is necessary for the state to establish a solid water supply. The Uinta Mountain Range is one of the primary sources of water for Utah. The mountains receive an average of 60 inches of precipitation each year and most runoff from the mountains feeds the Green River. the largest tributary of the Colorado. As a re- sult, much of Utah's annual apportionment ftows down the Green and out of the state. Of the 900.000 acre-feet of Colorado River water that Utah uses annually. about 800,000 acre-feet is diverted within the Uinta Basin on the eastern side of the state. To collect more of its apportionment. Utah relies on the nearly~cornpleted Central Utah Project (CUP), a series of reservoirs, aQL6(juCIS, tunnels and power plants. In its current status. CUP presently diverts about 25.000 acre.feet annually of water from the Colorado River system. To date. most of CUP is completed and so far. $1.3 billion in state and federal funds have been spent on the project. Despite approval of the project by Congress as part of the Colorado River Storage Act in 1956, construction on CUP continues even today. It is expected to cost another $312 million to com. plete the Spanish-Fork Canyon Nephi Pipeline por- tion of the project which will deliver the majority - over 73.000 acre.feet - of water to southern Utah and Juab County farmlands. Tentatively, CUP will be completed by 2008. Over the years, amendments have been made to the origi- nal CUP plan. the most recent in 1992. The CUP Completion Act authorized $924 million to finish the project. including $141 million to design and implement a five-year fish, wildlife and recreatlor restora' tion and protection progr"m, Fishery flows are apportlonea 44,400 acre feet (17 percent) of CUP water. ~_........... .............. I.............. .............. .............. ............... ~.............. r.............. .............. .............. .............. IIU........... ............... .I.e.......... [............. !i............ .........r.l . ......~.r r~<~:;:'~ o^"- - -. ';"'~ .~ .; ."'= ._~:. ~-..-.~.-~.~ ~.....~,.,._ -'~ -'~_~."" _r.... .1' . -"., ~r'._-.;_-_ Utah has other quandaries as well, including the 130 acres of radioactive waste which have been deposited near Moab. Over 10 million tons of uranium, radium, mercury and other hazardous chemicals are bUried on the site and increased amounts of contaminants have been reported in groundwater supplies, the Colorado River and endangered species in the area. Though the pile still remains, the Bush administration has pledged support to study moving the pile away from the river. I:,~tfr{'lllely H'et year... eml create j700l/.\-, like this one shoH'II ((lVI((!illg :hnmgh the streets of Sail Lake City, Utah in /983. Controversy also has arisen over a proposal to construct a 120-rnli~ lung pipeline to deliver 60,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water from Lake Powell to burgeoning Washington County. including the city of St. George. Debate has surrounded growth predictions for the area and the amount of water conservation being conducted locally. Though need for the $400 million project is not anticipated until after 2020, environmental groups have already expressed their opposition 10 the proposal. In the past, Utah has been chastised by the othe' Upper Basin states for expressing its desire to mark.bt water. If it can gain the approval of the other Upper Basin states, Utah may market some of its almost 500,000 acre-feet of unused apportionment to buyers in the Lower Basin. Currently, this unused water flows into Lake Powell for later release to the benefit of users in the Lower Basin, 15