For small towns trying to prepare for a future of escalating drought and climate change, it can be a challenge to tackle giant infrastructure projects that might help.
That’s why U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton visited Toquerville, a town of just over 2,000 people in eastern Washington County. Standing next to a giant red dirt trench that will eventually hold a concrete dam, she announced the Ash Creek project will receive $7 million to cover some of its estimated $94 million cost.
“We hope that this new funding will keep your construction moving,” Touton said. “It's so exciting to be out here to actually see it put to work.”
Republican Rep. Celeste Maloy, who represents Washington County in Utah’s 2nd Congressional District, applauded the bureau’s decision. Without help from federal funds, she said, it can be especially hard for rural areas to take on the steep upfront costs of these expensive projects.
“This kind of money is huge for southern Utah. … It's hard to overstate how high the stakes are.”
That’s because Washington County is experiencing rapid population growth and its current water sources are essentially tapped out.
The Ash Creek project is just one piece of a larger puzzle — along with recycling wastewater and tearing out grass lawns — in the county’s 20-year plan to stretch its water supplies. It will use a new pipeline to move water from a leaky reservoir into the forthcoming Chief Toquer Reservoir. Once completed, it will provide secondary water that the nearby towns of Toquerville, La Verkin and Hurricane can use for irrigation, freeing up cleaner water sources for drinking.
In this desert landscape, Maloy said precipitation often arrives in a concentrated period of time, so adding more reservoir capacity to hold onto it is vital. While she made opposing government overreach a pillar of her campaign, she believes this funding illustrates how agencies can work together to address residents’ concerns.
“I get asked about water probably more than any other issue when I'm out talking to people,” Maloy said. “I always say, ‘Water is a state issue, but when the state decides what it wants to do, the federal government needs to back them up.’ And this is a really good example of that.”
The money comes from a $8.3 billion fund the bureau set aside to help Western communities become more resilient to the impacts of drought and aridification through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Together, with the $4.7 million the Bureau of Reclamation gave Ash Creek last year, the federal government has contributed $11.7 million to the project.
It was the only Utah project to be awarded money in this round of funding; five others were in California. But it joins a growing list of projects across Utah that have already received money from the water infrastructure fund.
Last year, St. George got $3 million to install 32,500 smart water meters to help customers have real-time information about their water use. The city expects this will save 2,711 acre-feet of water annually. Each acre-foot represents the amount of water needed to fill one acre of land to a height of one foot.
The Granger-Hunter Improvement District in West Valley City got $5 million to build a new well and water treatment facility. The Uintah Water Conservancy District received $14 million for enclosing the Steinaker irrigation canal near Vernal. The Weber Basin Water Conservancy District received $3.75 million to put in new conduits and add a solar array to offset energy needs at its treatment plant.
Others include $23 million for a pipeline at the Davis Aqueduct near Layton, $25 million for a new intake structure at the Deer Creek Dam northeast of Provo, and $3.2 million to increase aquifer storage in the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District.
The wide variety of projects illustrates the shotgun approach the state needs to take to maximize the water it has, said Utah Department of Natural Resources Executive Director Joel Ferry, especially as climate change threatens Utah’s primary water source, mountain snowpack.
“Whether you're in southern, eastern, northern — wherever you are in the state of Utah — the urgency is real. This is one of those historical, all-hands-on-deck moments where we have some hard decisions to make.”
The key with a project like Ash Creek, he said, is that the funds can make a relatively quick impact. Big reservoirs can take decades to go through the planning and permitting phases, but since Chief Toquer is already under construction, it should begin filling by the end of 2025.
Utah hopes to get more Reclamation funds for other water projects, too. For example, Ferry said, the state has applied for $50 million to get more water into the Great Salt Lake — things like wetland restoration or leasing water from water rights holders.
With water an increasingly fought-over resource across the West, he said it’s important for Utah to follow the example of Ash Creek and make sure everyone involved is on the same page.
“There's so much demand for this money that (if there’s) internal sniping or bickering, they're just gonna go somewhere else. It's easy to choose someone else if we're not showing that we're supportive.”
