BOARD01872

• Board Meeting Date: 9/27/1999
• Description: Colorado River Basin Issues - Interior Department's Indian Water Rights Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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The Moon Lake Project stores water in Moon Lake and Midview Reservoirs (with a combined
capacity of 55,300 acre feet) to supplement the water supply for land along the Lake Fork and
Duchesne Rivers, The project was constructed by the Moon Lake Water Users Association and
the Civilian Conservation Corps and has been in operation since 1938. The project provides
supplemental irrigation supply to about 75,000 acres. Operation and maintenance of Moon Lake
Reservoir and the Yellowstone Feeder Canal,and conveyance canals are the responsibility of the
Moon Lake Water Users Association. Ownelship and operation of the Duchesne Diversion Dam
and Feeder Canal and the Midview Reservoir and Lateral were transferred to the BIA as part of
an exchange agreement.

The Provo River Project was constructed in the late 1930's, and is another transbasin diversion
project diverting water from the Duchesne River Basin, Water is delivered to provide a
supplemental water supply for irrigation of about 48,100 acres of land and municipal and
industrial water for communities along the Wasatch Front in the Bonneville Basin. Features of
the collection system involving the Duchesne River include the Duchesne Diversion Dam and
the Duchesne TunneL The Duchesne Diversion Dam is on the North Fork of the Duchesne
River. The Duchesne Tunnel conveys wateI from the diversion dam to the Provo River Drainage
Basin.

The Bonneville Unit of the Central Utah Project was authorized for construction in 1956 by the
CRSP Act and is the most comprehensive of the six units of the CUP, Its purpose is water
collection and storage in the Duchesne River Basin for distribution to the Bonneville Basin.
While authorized to annually divert and deplete over 143,000 acre-feet of Duchesne River Basin
water, the Unit has yet to divert the full amount of its entitlement. Construction began in 1967,
and is ongoing. For convenience in planning the Bonneville Unit was divided into the following
systems: Starvation Collection System,; Strawberry Aqueduct and Collection System; Municipal
and Industrial System; and Diamond Fork System. These systems work together to provide
water from the Duchesne River Basin to Salt Lake and Utah Counties as well as supplemental
irrigation water to Summit and Wasatch Counties.

Completed in 1970, the Starvation Collection System develops water for irrigation and municipal
uses. Regulatory storage is provided by Starvation Reservoir, located on the Strawberry River
approximately 3.5 to 4 miles above its confluence with the Duchesne River. The reservoir is
filled by winter and spring flows from the Strawberry and Duchesne Rivers. Duchesne River
water is diverted by Knight Diversion Dam and conveyed to the reservoir through the Starvation
Feeder Conduit. The reservoir provides storage that replaces Duchesne River flows used for
irrigation that are diverted into the Bonneville Basin. The reservoir also provides a small amount
of water for irrigation of lands along the Duchesne River, and for M&I uses,

The Strawberry Aqueduct and Collection System, completed in the late 1980's, intercepts Rock
Creek and eight other tributaries of the Duchesne River and conveys that water though the
Strawberry Aqueduct to an enlarged Strawberry Reservoir. Stored water is being released to the

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