WSPC06036

• File Number: 8045
• Description: Section D General Studies-Federal Projects-General
• Date: 4/18/1980
• Title: Moon Lake Power Plant Project-Reports 1979-80-Availability of Water and Impact on Water Quality from a Power Plant to be Constructed by Deseret Generation and Transmission Cooperative
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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Utah Division of Water Resources (UD\fR) have estimated that the future

water supply available at Bonanza will be approximately 185,000 acre feet

more than the estimate prepared by Western Engineers (Western) for the

Water Users Assocation #1 of the Colorado River Water Conservation District.

Western essentially assumed that most Colorado conditional water rights

were developed if water was available for diversion. Actual upstream

development will probably be more than UDWR has assumed and less than

Western's assumption. Required releases for downstream users are uncertain

in both states.

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Reservoir near Bonanza

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Using the inflows and releases assumed by UDWR (which includes releases

for hydro power generation), a prolonged drought would create water

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shortages if Deseret Power, oil shale, and Ute Indian irrigation were

fully developed. However, UDWR indicates that hydro power generation

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would be curtailed during any serious drought to provide needed water

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for Deseret or other critical uses. The only other source of additional

water in case of drought would be from the Ute Indians utilizing part

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of their irrigation water rights. An agreement would be essential to

insure the power company a continuing source of water in time of extreme

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drought.

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Additional calculations were made to determine the impact on the Bonanza

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project from Western's more severe a~sumptions, because of the marked difference

in assumed future stream flow crossing the state line (a difference of

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