Articles

Discussion:   Talk about this article...

WURMP: Committee to develop a Water Utility Resource Management Plan Moab & Spanish Valley, Utah

January 01, 2023
by John S. Weisheit

NARRATIVE

Essentially this water resource management plan is an assumption that growth in Moab-Spanish Valley, for the next 100-years, will need to develop water resource infrastructure for 48,000 people; about four times greater than the present population of 11,270 people as of 2022.

What is not an assumption, is that the aquifers of this community are presently being monitored to make sure we avoid mining our groundwater supplies. As to the Colorado River, the year in which demand exceeded supply happened in 2003. Since 1991, the 30-year average of inflow into Lake Powell has been declining 800,000 acre-feet every ten years, or 2.4 million acre-feet.

The correct 100-year plan should be about adapting to the impacts of climate change, rather than to assume business as usual.

###

PUBLIC EDUCATION EVENT: The first of three sessions

Sponsor:
Grand County Commission

Presenters:
Marc Stilson, Utah Division of Water Rights & Presentation
Arne Hultquist, Moab Area Watershed Partnership & Presentation

Archive of live presentation via YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC70Y8042uU

Date, time and venue:
July 26, 2023 (Wednesday) at 6 PM
Utah State University, Classroom #101
1850 S. Aggie Boulevard
Moab, UT  84532

Posters: please print and distribute to your networks


####

WATER UTILTIY RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN (WURMP)
Moab & Spanish Valley


3rd Round of Public Meeting

2nd Round of Public Meetings
  • Sponsor: City of Moab
  • Monday, May 22nd at 6:00 via Zoom @ bit.ly/WURMPFocusGroup2
  • Wednesday, May 24th from 5:00 to 7:00 pm at the Grand Center in Moab.
Note: The 1st round of foundational meetings were not public

 

DATA AND REFERENCES




SOLUTIONS

VISIONARY STRATEGIES
Ten Strategies for Climate Resilience on the Colorado River Basin

NEWS

OPINION


PUBLIC COMMENTS

PUBLIC MEETINGS

 

Criteria for a resource management plan. Utah Division of Water Resources


GOVERNANCE AND CONTRACTOR
  • Legislative authority is: City of Moab, Grand County, & San Juan County.
  • Water Utility Purveyors: City of Moab, Grand Water & Sewer Service Agency, San Juan Spanish Valley Special Service District and Moab irrigation Company.
  • City Engineer for City of Moab - Chuck Williams <eMail>.
  • Hans, Allen and Luce; contractor to develop this management plan - Ben Miner <eMail>, Katie Jacobson (801-566-5599), Dan Jones.
  • Logan Simpson Design - Sophie Frankenburg <eMail> is public engagement contractor; Jim Carter <eMail>.
  • Sunrise Engineering - (800-560-6151) Devan Shields.

Formative Documents for the water Resource Management Plan


UTAH CODE
73-5-15.  Groundwater management plan (view statute)

  • Safe Yield: Should the local goverments exceed the safe yield requirement for the aquifers of Moab-Spanish Valley, then regulating authority will be transferred to the State Engineer.

QUESTIONS FOR PUBLIC COMMENT
  • Matheson Wetlands: What is the brine layer doing and where is it going?
  • Hwy 191 Springs: Is the quantity decreasing and is the quality degrading?
  • Floods: Rain on snow, upstream dam failures, maximum precipitation events, monsoon cloudbursts, atmospheric rivers, sheet rain, development hardened landscapes. Colorado River, Mill Creek, Pack Creek; independently or all at sources of stream flow at the same time?
  • Mill Creek: It waters the shade trees and provides riparian habitat, and recharges the vslley fill aquifer aquifer, which weighs down upon on the brine layer effectively. Is this free ecological service important to our community, or not?
  • Sewer Service expansion will be required and preferably the facility will not be in the 500-year floodplain of the Colorado River, or the tributaries of Mill Creek and/or Pack Creek.
  • Transportation corridor is already congested and unsafe.


Discussion:   Talk about this article...