Thanks for that endorcement Wayne.
I think many of you are aware that the Central Utah Project Completion Act, or CUPCA as we call it was enacted in 1992 and which increased
the appropriation ceiling but it also turned responsibility for completion of the Bonneville Unit
over to the Central Utah Water Conservancy District,
which Gene Shawcroft is here with us today and it the turn responsibility for mitigation and conservation over to a presidential commission
the Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission, we call them the mitigation commission. CUPCA envisioned a
partnership among these entities to complete the Bonneville Unit and Reclamation is a key part of that,
they provides many services to the program as well.
Work began in 1993 with the first appropriation
under CUPCA, and many projects have been completed
including the Wasatch County Water Efficiency Project, the Diamond Fork System the Uinta Basin Replacement Project
the Provo River Restoration Project,
37 water conservation projects just to name a few. A lot of work has been accomplished since then.
CUPCA also includes the UTE Indian Rights Settlement Act
as title 5 CUPCA, and all the appropriations for that settlement have been made and we continue work with the UTE Tribes to implement
the settlement of the projects that are covered under that title.
I want to talk about the construction, ongoing construction. Utah Lake system is being
constructed as the last component of the the Bonneville Unit.
A record of decision was signed
in 2005 and construction started in 2007,
and currently there's three projects that are underway on the system.
One is at the mouth of Provo Canyon
and that's Orem Reach 1B and once completed that will provide municipal and industrial water to Salt Lake county and also water to Provo River
for the endangered species. I wanted to mention also that water that will be conveyed into Utah County will be by
summer deliveries by way of the Provo River Aqueduct
which is the owned and operated by Keith Denos, and the Provo River Water Users Association,
and he's here with us today as well.
Also under Utah Lake, we have the Springville Mapleton Regulating Tank which is under construction and
will be completed late this year or early next year which will provide equalization for,
for water and pressurization for the Mapleton Springville Lateral System
and are also working Phase 2 of that system, which will upgrade the connections for pressure
and also provided deliveries to Hobble Creek for the endangered June Sucker.
The remaining Utah Lake system features that are yet to be completed include two pipelines in south Utah County
which will deliver 30,000 acre feet
to the 10 cities and in south Utah County as well as the Diamond Fork Powerplant.
Planning is also under way right now on the Olmsted Hydroelectric Power Replacement Project
which is at the mouth of Provo Canyon. This is a power plant that is nearly 100 years old
and it's owned by the United States through acquisition 25 years ago
and it's surely in need of replacement.
We have an environmental assessment that's out currently, a draft is out for public review we're working on the contracts and agreements
partners with that project include Central District Western Area Power Administration
our office, and also the Bureau of Reclamation. We hope to be underway with that and have the power plant commissioned and 2018.
I wanted to mention a few projects that we have going with the Mitigation Commission.
They are currently working on the Lower Duchesne River Wetlands Project,
and thats mitigation for wetlands lost from the UTE Tribe, its mitigation for the UTE Tribe that project will be finished 2018,
and it's being constructed by the Bureau of Reclamation force account crew from the Provo Area office which is very key to that project.
We also are underway with the planning on the Provo River Delta Restoration Project which is
mitigation and habitat development for the June Sucker,
and we have a final EIS and hope to have a record of decision early next year and that will be a very key component of recovery of the
June Sucker. I wanted to mention just a few milestones and I think these are fairly significant for all of us here.
Work on the Utah Lakes Systems progressed to the point that we are able, we were able this year
to issue the first block notice on the Utah Lake System.
The pipelines not completed but it's, is finished to a point that we issued a block notice for 7,000 acre feet
for instream flows for the endangered June Sucker.
This is significant not only for the CUCPA program but also for the June Sucker recovery implementation
program and I think for the the community.
It's the first time in 70 years
that water has been in Hobble Creek in late summer so that's very, very significant milestone.
Through the coordinated efforts the CUPCA program and other partners
that makeup and the June Sucker rip, will have made significant strides towards recovery of the endangered June Sucker, Gene Shawcroft
and Keith Denos are here with us today, their on the administrative committee of the
recovery program and a we feel like we've made significant progress that we hope to see down listing of that species in the near future,
and also important is the fact that we're on the verge of delivering 30,000 acre feet
of municipal and industrial water to Salt Lake County and then closely on the hills we want to turn our attention to South
Utah County and delivery of an additional 30,000 acre feet in that part as well.
Although our appropriations have been significantly curtailed recently, work has slowed down but it does continue due
largely in part of the Central Utah Water Conservancy District
who are using their own local funds to continue construction
and also to Mitigation Commission who are using the annual of interest from their
investment account to keep work going. I believe we've made significant progress
on the CUPCA program due largely to our partnership arrangement. I'd like to thank the
Bureau of Reclamation for your support in implementing the program. Thank you.