SALT LAKE CITY — The Lake Powell pipeline project has been moved to a longer-term need as Washington County water officials focus on other measures to supply water to the fast growing region of Utah.
"It is not dead. It is part of very long-term strategy," said Zach Renstrom, the general manager of the Washington County Water Conservancy District..
Renstrom confirmed the recent decision made by the district's board during an interview with FOX 13 News at a conference in Las Vegas of the Colorado River Water Users Association. The conference kicked off a new round of negotiations between the states with a stake in the mighty river.
"For the next 20 years, we are focused 100% on conservation and development of our local water supplies. Lake Powell pipeline is still a project for the state of Utah, but it’s out in the quite a bit, distant future," Renstrom said.
The pipeline has been envisioned as a way to supply water to a fast growing and thirsty part of the state. But it hasn't been needed as more residents of southwestern Utah engage in conservation practices and the water district also adopts water re-use practices. Renstrom said there has been a fundamental shift in water in the western U.S.
"Communities are much more open to changing how they do their landscaping and conservation measures that they weren’t necessarily open to five years ago," he said.
As evidence of that, the Washington County Water Conservancy District announced that communities in the St. George area removed their one millionth square foot of "nonfunctional turf." That's lawn that isn't really used and wastes water.
"When we started this program last year? I didn’t think we would get close to that number. That’s why I'm saying there’s been a shift in how people are thinking about things, how they view water," Renstrom said.
Karen Goodfellow, the vice-president of the group Conserve Southwest Utah, agreed. She said Washington County residents are becoming more aware of water and rethinking how they use it. Her group has been working with the water district on initiatives to encourage better water practices, noting that 80% of the area's use of water is residential, municipal and industrial.
"Conservation is the key," she said.
Goodfellow said she supported the Lake Powell pipeline being moved down the priority list.
"It’s not where we need to go for our water source and we’re very much in favor of protecting the watershed here in Washington County, and that is the Virgin River," she said.
A coalition of environmental groups are pushing to have the pipeline project killed entirely. The Utah Rivers Council, the Glen Canyon Institute and the Great Basin Water Network signed on to a letter calling on the U.S. Department of Interior to eject the pipeline from further environmental permitting.
"Utahns have wasted over $40 million in their taxes to advance this paper fantasy that is the Lake Powell pipeline. We need the federal government to cancel this boondoggle that is soaking taxpayers," Zach Frankel, the executive director of the Utah Rivers Council, said Tuesday.
Frankel argued the Colorado River has no more water to give.
The Colorado River certainly is a factor in future water development in southwestern Utah as negotiations commence on new operating agreements between the states, feds, tribes and Mexico. But Renstrom said they are always evaluating water needs in Washington County.
"It would be foolish of us not to continue to reevaluate and see where we’re going and make sure we’re good stewards," he said. "Also on the Colorado River itself, there’s been a mega-drought and the levels in the lakes have dropped significantly and there’s lots of discussions going with the river. We’ve got to figure out where the state of Utah’s going to be after all that negotiation is completed."
