WSP02161

• File Number: 8272.600.60
• Description: Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program - Basin Member State Info - Utah
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 12/1/1968
• Title: Utah Desalting Study
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

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The population of Utah is concentrated along the western margin
of the rugged Wasatch Mountains, an area commonly known as the Wasatch
Front. In this area, seventy-five percent of the State's population
resides within a strip of land about ten miles in width extending from
Brigham City on t;he north to Nephi, 120 miles to the south. This most
heavily populated and fastest growing portion of the State will have
a rapidly increasing need 'for water formunidpa1 and industrial purposes.

The development of long-run plans for supplying water to meet
the growing demands in this area, while making essential water supplies
available to other parts of the State, is a major concern of the State's
Division of Water Resources. The Division is now preparing an overall
state water plan which will identify opportunities for further water
development.

During the course of its water planning activities, the Division
recognized that the rather poor quality water now reaching Great Salt
Lake represented a significant potential resource if it could be re-
stored to a more usable condition. In view of the potential importance
of this resource to the State of Utah, representatives of the State
contacted officials of the Atomic Energy Commission and the Office of
Saline Water in regard to the technical and economic feasibility of de-
salting the flows.

The functions of the Office of Saline Water are to provide for the
development of practicable low cost means for the large scale production,
from saline water, of water of a quality suitable for municipal, industrial,
agricultural and other beneficial and consumptive uses; to conduct, encourage
and promote fundamental scientific research and basic studies to develop
the best and most economical processes and methods for converting saline
water into water suitable for beneficial consumptive purposes; and to find
new processes of supply to meet the present and future water needs of the
Nation. In line with its basic responsibilities, the Office of Saline
Water found in Utah an area offering a unique opportunity for applying
current technological concepts and an area where there is a likelihood of
the need to use such desalting technology. Moreover, the possible oppor-
tunity for combining desalting with the production of electrical energy
for a developing mineral industry and growing economy appeared to provide
an opportunity to apply current technology in the application of nuclear
heat sources to power generation, process heat production, and the coupling
of nuclear sources to desalting plants.

In view of the importance of this study and its relevance to the
responsibilities of each agency, it was agreed that the three agencies,
the Atomic Energy Commission, the Office of Saline Water, and the State of
Utah, would conduct jointly a nine month staff study of the application

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