Feds pour $7 million into southern Utah water pipeline project
Mar 27, 2024, 8:07 PM
This map shows where the Chief Toquer reservoir will connect to the Ash Creek Reservoir. (KSL TV)
(KSL TV)
TOQUERVILLE, Washington County — A project to build a new pipeline running from the Ash Creek Reservoir to the Chief Toquer Reservoir has received $7 million from the bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
The law is designed to increase water supply reliability, improve operational flexibility, and enhance community and landscape resilience to the effects of climate change.
Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton announced the funding while touring the Chief Toquer Reservoir Project in Toquerville on Wednesday.
A news release from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said the new reservoir will hold 3,638 acre-feet of water, and is expected to provide approximately 1,760 acre-feet annually.
The project received $4.7 million last year, the release states.
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“Water is essential to everything we do: feeding families, growing crops, powering agricultural businesses, sustaining wildlife, and safeguarding Tribal subsistence practices,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said. “As the climate crisis drives severe drought conditions and historically low water allocations, it will take all of us working together to safeguard our communities.”
“These small surface and groundwater storage projects will boost water storage opportunities and increase resiliency and flexibility for communities in the West,” Touton said.
Federal infrastructure bill gives $50 million boost to Utah Co. water project
The release said President Biden’s Investing in America agenda represents the largest investment in climate resilience in the nation’s history and is providing much-needed resources to enhance Western communities to survive during the drought and hold off the effects of climate change, according to the news release.
In addition, the bipartisan Infrastructure Law allows the Bureau of Reclamation to invest a total of $8.3 billion over five years for water infrastructure projects, including rural water, water storage, conservation and conveyance, nature-based solutions, dam safety, water purification and reuse, and desalination, the release said.
The program, authorized by the law, funds projects with a water storage capacity between 200 and 30,000 acre-feet.
