ST. GEORGE — While the Lake Powell Pipeline project is on hold as issues concerning the future water availability of the Colorado River between impacted states play out, a coalition of environmental groups is asking the United States Department of the Interior to kill the project once and for all.

“The Lake Powell Pipeline is a paper dinosaur that needs to be shredded once and for all,” Zach Frankel, executive director of the Utah Rivers Council, said in a media release. “Forty million residents need the federal government to step in and stop Utah from wasting anymore tax money on this irresponsible boondoggle.”

The Utah Rivers Council, along with the eight other groups, sent a letter to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland asking her to “direct the Bureau of Reclamation to eject the proposed Lake Powell Pipeline from its current permitting.”

Arguments against the pipeline highlighted in the letter include continued claims that there is no water in the Colorado River left to give, that county water managers have admitted they don’t need the pipeline and that Washington County continues to use too much water overall, the council stated.

Over the last two decades, the flows on the Colorado River have been reduced by 20%, which has been attributed to the ongoing drought in the West and elements of climate change. This has led to cuts being made to water allocations for Nevada, Arizona and California with more cuts proposed on the horizon.

“Approving additional water diversions in this era of flow declines is laden with risks, which have painful consequences to millions of people across the Basin,” the coalition’s letter to Haaland states. “How can the Bureau (of Reclamation) ask states to cut their water use while simultaneously permitting a massive new water diversion inside Utah?”

Arizona, California and Nevada make up the Lower Colorado Basin, while Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming make up the Upper Colorado Basin. The Colorado River serves 40 million people across these states, as well as Mexico and several Native American tribes.

There has been an argument among water managers in the Upper Basin that the Lower Basin states have long made a habit taking more water from the Colorado River than originally granted under the Colorado River Compact, while the Upper Basin states haven’t developed their full allocations to the river yet.

This is a part of the reason why Utah lawmakers and water managers continue to pursue rights, as Utah has yet to reach the limit of its own water allocation, from which the Lake Powell Pipeline would be used to fill.

However, water managers also acknowledged that not as much water may be available as originally planned, and have said they will adapt accordingly.

“The Colorado River is a shared resource,” Karry Rathje, a spokeswoman for the Washington County Water Conservancy District, told media in an email. “To sustain the river, water use needs to be based on allocations adjusted for hydrological conditions and available storage systemwide. Utah will live within its hydrology, whatever that may be. The LPP will not exceed Utah’s share of Colorado River water.”

The conservation group’s letter to the government goes on to claim that Washington County managers admit the area doesn’t need the pipeline due to the water savings projected in the water district’s recently adopted 20-year plan.

“They could satisfy their future water demand without any water from the LPP for the next twenty years,” the coalition sates in reference to the plan. “Given that the project sponsor no longer believes the project is necessary for its water future, there is no longer a purpose or need for this project. This alone should be enough to disqualify the project from any further permitting.”

Language from the water district’s 20-year plan states the Lake Powell Pipeline “remains a critical component for meeting Washington County’s long-term water supply needs,” yet recent developments related to the Colorado River have made the timing of that project uncertain. This led to the water district pursuing water-saving alternatives explored in the 20-year plan.

The coalition’s letter “gives the false impression” that the 20-year plan replaces the pipeline project, Rathje said in the email.

“The district is continuing to focus on increased conservation, additional reuse and local supply development while the larger Colorado River issues are being negotiated,” she said. “These efforts are necessary to keep pace with increasing water demand while the LPP is delayed … The county’s population is projected to more than double in the next few decades. Additional water is needed.”

One of the longstanding arguments made against the pipeline is that Washington County uses too much water compared to similar counties in the western states.

“The 2020 draft environmental impact statement for the LPP states that Washington County residents use 306 gallons per person per day — a figure more than twice the U.S. municipal average per person, according to the U.S.G.S.,” the letter states. “The water district could easily secure its future water needs simply by implementing the many water conservation measures that are common place in cities across the United States. Doing so would entirely eliminate the need for the LPP.”

A counterpoint that Utah water managers have made to this argument is that Utah doesn’t measure water use the same way other states do, which leads to inaccurate comparisons.

This issue was the subject of legislation passed earlier this year that requires Utah’s major water districts, including the Washington County Water Conservancy District, to begin measuring water use the same way neighboring states do in order to create accurate comparisons.

“Washington County’s consumptive use is approximately 155 gpcd (2022 data),” Rathje said in the email.

The coalition’s letter also states that Washington County has some of the cheapest water rates and should adopt higher rates to reduce water waste. Rathje said the water district has “the most aggressive water rate structures in Utah.”

“The district’s excess water use surcharge establishes thresholds for new connections that limit water use to 8,000 gallons in the winter, 15,000 gallons in the spring and fall and 20,000 gallons in the summer” she said. “Uses over the established thresholds are charged $10 per 1,000 gallons in addition to the municipal water rates.”

The Lake Powell Pipeline is a proposed 140-mile pipeline that would run across parts of Utah and Arizona between Lake Powell and the Sand Hollow Reservoir. The projected purpose and need of the pipeline is to supply Washington County with a secondary source of water and to help  accommodate the county’s growing population, which is anticipated to be around 500,000 by 2060.

• See the coalition’s letter to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland here.
• See the Washington County Water Conservancy District’s 20-year plan here.

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