Drought threatens Colorado River, Utah plans to divert more water to wasteful county

by McKenzie Stauffer

Thu, July 19th 2018, 5:25 PM UTC

FILE - In this Aug. 11, 2015, file photo, hydrologic technician Ryan Parker gathers water samples from the San Juan River, in Montezuma Creek, Utah. Utah has filed a claim for $1.9 billion from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, saying a mine wastewater spill in Colorado triggered by the EPA damaged the San Juan and other waterways in Utah, as well as causing damage to soil and wildlife. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)

As a drought threatens water supplies in the Colorado River Basin, Utah plans to build the Lake Powell Pipeline that will divert extra water to the state. (File photo: SBG)

In this Aug. 18, 2015 photo, Joe Ben Jr., Shiprock Chapter House Farm Board representative, tests the water from tanks at the Chief Hill location in Shiprock, N.M. The quality of San Juan River water on the Navajo Nation has returned to what it was before a spill at a Colorado gold mine sent toxic sludge into the waterway, federal officials said Thursday. (Alexa Rogals/The Daily Times via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

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FILE - In this Aug. 11, 2015, file photo, hydrologic technician Ryan Parker gathers water samples from the San Juan River, in Montezuma Creek, Utah. Utah has filed a claim for $1.9 billion from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, saying a mine wastewater spill in Colorado triggered by the EPA damaged the San Juan and other waterways in Utah, as well as causing damage to soil and wildlife. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)

(KUTV) - As a drought threatens water supplies in the Colorado River Basin, Utah plans to build the Lake Powell Pipeline that will divert extra water its most wasteful county.

Per capita, upstream states like Utah, Colorado and Wyoming increased residential water use by 7 percent between 2010 and 2015.

But, water use has declined by 14 percent in California, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico over the same period.

"As lower basin cities make plans to walk away from their water, Utah is aiming to make things worse by diverting additional water they don't need," Taylor-Graham, Water and Environmental Journalist at the Utah Rivers Council, said in a news release.

The Lake Powell Pipeline is 140-miles-long. It will divert 86,000 acre-feet of water annually uphill to Washington County.

According to the pipeline's federal project application, residents in the county use 325 gallons per capita a day.

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"Utah's failure to reduce water waste while planning new, destructive diversions flies in the face of the collective progress made in the Colorado River Basin," Graham said in a news release.

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