Cedar/Beaver Basin
(November 2004)

Beaver City Water System - Beaver County
Beaver City is supplied by three culinary wells. The secondary system, that services approximately 95 % of city, is supplied from the Beaver River until river flows are less than 30 cfs. The city then supplements the secondary system with culinary well water. The city holds storage rights for 200 ac-ft of water in Kent’s Lake, where it stores much of its Beaver River allocation.

Brian Head - Iron County
Brian Head Town receives most of their water from six different springs from April through November, depending on how long the flows hold up. Low flows generally occur December through March, at which time the town supplements their water supplies from two pumped wells, one in the Parowan drainage and one in the Summit drainage. These wells also supply the water for snow making in winter. Also, if it is available, Brian Head Resort uses up to 150 ac-ft of water from the town’s springs for snowmaking. The resort makes snow to groom ski trails as well as making up for low snow bases.

The city has 150 full time and 1200 seasonal service connections. The city sells bulk water to summer cabins except when shortages occur. In 2002, summer water supplies dropped too low to supply the cabins. The summer of 2003 was a better water year for the town and they were able to return to supplying water to the cabins. This year the water situation was much better than the summer of 2003, although flows from the springs were still below normal at the first of the summer. Late this summer, storms restored much of the surface moisture and early snows also helped considerably. Flows from the cities springs are now at average for this time of year.

The town has three storage tanks with a capacity for 2.3 million gallons. Though excessive for the population size, they hold extra storage for firefighting. The town restricts summertime watering between 10:00 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Cedar City - Iron County
Cedar City is supplied by seven culinary wells, of which several were lowered 50 ft in 2002 due to declining ground water levels. The city has storage tanks with a combined capacity of 18,000,000 gallons, which has helped moderate the effects of increased demands on the water supply system.

In an effort to increase capacity, the city has drilled two additional culinary wells and reworked a third well to double the system’s capacity. The city is also considering pumping the high nitrate water beneath Cedar City for use in a secondary system. This would keep the poorer quality water from migrating into areas of the aquifer from where drinking water is drawn. The high nitrate water is suitable for sprinkler irrigation and could be used on large landscapes.

Rains produced high flows in Coal Creek late this fall. City officials are concerned that the creek bed is silted in, which poses a flooding potential from higher flow rates. The channel under I-15 is now silted in to within three feet of the bottom of the bridges. Officials estimate that when the bridges were completed, they were fifteen to twenty feet above the creek bed.

Enoch City - Iron County
In July 2003 a new rate structure went into effect for Enoch with six pricing levels that are dependant upon usage. In July of 2002 the city used 75 million gallons of water, in 2003 after the new rate was implemented, the city used 67 million gallons. The city engineer estimates that the 2004 consumption was near 60 million gallons, or a 20% reduction since 2002. Reductions are likely due to a combination of drought response and the new pricing structure. The city also has a time of day watering restriction.

Enoch’s new water board has approved the first secondary system for the city. It will service 100 homes in a new subdivision with water pumped from the high nitrate farm wells to the west of the city center. Another subdivision of 50 homes will soon follow and will use the same secondary water. Enoch has high levels of nitrates in ground water from nearby formations in Fiddlers Canyon and in the mid valley area from natural and man made sources.

Enoch is served by five culinary wells. Most of the city’s high quality water comes from a well to the north of the city, where Cedar City has recently drilled a new well that is about 1 ½ miles up-gradient from Enoch’s well.

Enoch City installed a demonstration garden in 2002 with help from USU extension agents. The 1.5-acre landscape is located at the city offices and features 8 different low-water use hybrid turf grasses (3 hot season and 5 cool season) distributed in 24 garden spots. This past spring this city garden ordered over 500 pounds of “Discovery” hard fescue grass along with various smaller amounts of other grasses for local citizen’s landscapes. These grasses do well when receiving about half the water that Kentucky Blue grass requires.

 Enterprise - Washington County
Enterprise water is supplied by two springs and two culinary wells. The springs provide most of the culinary water, while the two wells provide make-up water for high demand periods. Meters were placed on the springs two years ago. The first spring had a flow rate of 137 gpm when the meter was installed and is now down to 85 gpm. The second spring had a flow rate of 117 gpm and is now down to 76 gpm. At the end of the irrigation season September 2004 well flows are stable at the lower flows where they were at this time last year. The flow record for the springs is still not long enough to determine a trend in flows, so it is not known how much of the declines are due to seasonal trends or drought.

City culinary requirements are very near to the current capacity of the springs. The city will not pump from the wells until springtime unless demands increase. Enterprise now has four storage tanks with a combined capacity of 1,400,000 gallons. This has helped them improve water pressure from 30 psi up to a minimum of 55 psi at the higher elevations of the city. Some areas are approaching 100 psi. The increased storage also ensures adequate reserves for fire- fighting. The city water manager indicates that seasonal fluctuations in ground water level are commonly 15 feet but always rebound in the fall. All customers use culinary well water for both indoor and outdoor use. This autumn’s rains have saturated the upper seven feet of soil in the area and Shoal and Spring Creeks have been flowing (they are normally dry this time of year). Spring Creek is believed to recharge the aquifer the city springs flow from. Enterprise does not anticipate any problems with water supplies.

Milford - Beaver County
One culinary and two irrigation wells serve the city. A new culinary well has been drilled but is having problems with sand in the lower casing. The new well has cost the city over $800,000 so far. The city started using the new well in June, but the well’s motor and pump were soon destroyed by sand. A new pump and motor will cost the city an additional $25,000. As of November 2004 the new well was still not in service. The old culinary well has high arsenic content (29 ppm) and its water will later be used to replace supplies from the cities two older irrigation wells, which may be retired. The city normally pumps 12 to 14 hours during the night to take advantage of lower power rates. They did not experience any water shortages during last summer (2004). Normally, in mid to late summer the flow rate on the city wells drops by about 100 gpm due to nearby farmers pumping for irrigation. During the last winter and summer the water table rose nearly 50 ft. in some areas. This occurred before the fall rainstorms and it is not known as to why the water table rose. The city irrigation wells only supply recreation areas and school grounds, there is no residential secondary water system.

Paragonah - Iron County
This town of approximately 500 is served by one spring. Flow from the spring was about 70% of normal last April but this did not noticeably affect the city’s system partly due to an adequate reserve capacity provided by the addition of the new (two years old) 200,000 gal storage tank. The town has first priority water rights from the spring. As of Aug. 16, 2004 flow from the spring was at 80% of normal, quite an improvement over last year’s 60% at the same time. Normal flow is approximately 750 gpm.

Red Creek Reservoir, which supplies the cities secondary water and some agricultural water, has an 830 ac-ft capacity. Normally, irrigation water lasts the entire summer through September, this year the water lasted to mid September. Thunderstorms helped with irrigation needs after the reservoir water was gone. The city has a summertime watering restriction that limits landscape watering to the hours between 6 pm and 10 am.

Parowan - Iron County
Parowan is supplied by two culinary wells and one spring. The city used to get all of its water from two springs, Main Canyon Spring and Six Mile Spring. Six Mile Spring was recently

Re-classified by the Utah Division of Water Quality and can no longer be used for culinary purposes. The remaining spring averages about 100 gallons per minute and provides most of the culinary water for the 2500 citizens of Parowan. One of the two culinary wells is used approximately 4 hours per day and the other serves as a back up which has never been used. Four years ago the main well was dropped 20 feet due to declining water levels and then two years ago it was dropped another 40 feet. The well has not had any problems since being dropped the second time. The city recently installed a second 1,000,000 gal tank at the south end of town that doubled storage.

The cities conservation ordinance restricts summer irrigation to between 6 pm and 10 am. During the last summer (2004) irrigators were also restricted to two days per week. Because of growth and limited system capacity, irrigation restrictions will likely remain permanent. Culinary well supplies look good with no expected problems.

Irrigation water for the secondary system normally comes from Yankee Meadows Reservoir (1200 ac-ft) for mid to late summer use. Nine small irrigation companies hold shares in the reservoir in addition to the city. A small wildlife conservation pool also exists in the reservoir and has to be maintained. Normally, the farmers get ¾ of the water from Yankee Meadows and the creeks, and the city gets ¼. Though small, Yankee Meadows provides for the irrigation needs of Parowan and the smaller farms in the area due to recent piping of the reservoirs water. The flow from Six Mile spring has also been added to the irrigation supply in the area due to surface contamination that makes the water unsuitable for drinking.

Rationing helped extend this year’s irrigation supplies through mid September when the irrigation season ended, and a little water was also carried over for next year. Fall rains have helped to partially refill the reservoir ahead of schedule, but the current level is not known.

Agricultural

Beaver River - Beaver County
Water from the Beaver River is divided between several small reservoirs up in the mountains and the larger Minersville Reservoir down stream on the valley floor. Beaver River water is principally allocated to Minersville Reservoir with river flows above 160 cfs going into Minersville Reservoir, and on November 1 through April all river flows are allocated to Minersville Reservoir. After Minersville Reservoir water rights are satisfied, the upper lakes can be filled. In the past few years there has not been enough water to fulfill the Minersville rights and the upper reservoirs have received little water.

Coal Creek - Iron County
Coal Creek flows have been better this year than last year, though not as much as originally anticipated. Early spring warming melted most of the mountain snow too early to use for irrigation, and with no storage along the creek, the water flowed out into the valley. Much of this valley water evaporates, however a portion seeps into the ground through gravel deposits located along the course of the creek to recharge the valley aquifer.

Fall rain events have helped to replenish the surface soil moisture levels in the area, but high Coal Creek water flows are passed up because of the lack of upstream storage and high silt loads. Storm waters from Coal Creek’s watershed bring down excessive amounts of mud, which changes the color of the water depending upon the area of the watershed receiving rain. Rains in the upper watershed near Cedar Breaks bring red colored mud while rains nearer the mouth of Cedar Canyon produce brown mud. Mud from either source clogs the fields with fine sediments that smother crops and makes machinery movement difficult. Muddy flows are generally allowed to continue down Coal Creek rather than being diverted into the canals. Heavy rain and runoff has also caused some flooding in new residential areas to the southwest of the city. Overall, this water year has been much better than last year.

Enterprise Area - Washington County
Upper Enterprise was drained to the conservation pool of 200 ac-ft and Lower Enterprise was emptied by late August of this year. Due to a fire in the fall of 2003, runoff into Upper Enterprise during the fall carried high sediments, brush and was black in color. Heavy fall rain has now (November 2004) filled the reservoirs to their average April 1 st level of about half full.

Milford Area

Farms in this area almost exclusively use ground water for irrigation. Most farmers have not had any problems pumping water.

No water problems have been reported at Circle Four Farms (the largest user in the valley) either.Circle Four Farms has expanded its operation over the past few years by adding 19 contract farms located in the nearby area. Circle Four provides assistance to the farmers and maintains buildings and sewage lagoons for each operation. They do not have plans for further expansion at the present due to market saturation. Circle Four also has its bio-diesel operation up and running, which converts the sewage from one million pigs into methane, diesel fuel and fuel additives.

Minersville - Beaver County
Minersville Reservoir has recently been operated as a “trophy” lake, only allowing the take of 21inch fish. Because the irrigation company planned to use all of the water from Minersville Reservoir fishing limits were enlarged to fish out the lake. The city of Beaver has also just acquired the Campground on the southeast end of the lake

This 23,300 ac-ft reservoir normally provides water for the Rocky Ford Irrigation Company and a wildlife pool in addition to the Minersville Irrigation Company’s rights. Last summer there was only enough water for the Minersville Irrigation Company. Minersville irrigation has priority over the conservation pool and in drought years can drain the reservoir, such as was done this year. The irrigation company provides 2000 water shares which last year provided 3.25 ac-ft per share and this year provided 3.50 ac-ft per share.

The reservoir is currently (November 15) filling and has approximately 2,300 ac-ft of water in it. Last year at this time the reservoir held approximately 1,000 ac-ft. The reservoir is filling at a rate of 80 ac-ft per day, last year it averaged about 55 ac-ft per day through April. The gates were closed on the reservoir September 15. At the present fill rate the reservoir should receive 12,000 ac-ft of water by the first of April. Last spring the reservoir filled to 7,500 ac-ft.

Parowan Valley - Iron County
The irrigation water in the valley is supplied from wells, springs, and some small reservoirs (¾ of the water in Yankee Meadows and Red Creek Reservoirs). These small reservoirs rarely have any water left in them at the end of the irrigation season and most farmers in the valley pump their irrigation water from the valley aquifer.