uintah unit replacement project area project summary project features lower uintah reservoir runoff vs. demand area map

lower uintah reservoir Under the operating agreement now being drafted, the Lower Uintah Reservoir (graphic) would store water under the Bureau of Reclamation 1964 storage right with 60% of the project water storage space allocated to Tribal use and 40% allocated to non-Tribal use. All flows of the Uinta River not required for direct irrigation or storage under prior water rights during the irrigation season will be stored with 60% in the Tribal pool and 40% in the non-Tribal pool. Combined diversions for storage and irrigation will be limited to one cubic foot per second (cfs) per 70 acres of irrigated land. Twelve hundred acre-feet of the Tribal storage may be released and delivered via the Bench Canal each year to replace evaporation and seepage losses from Bottle Hollow Reservoir. High Mountain Lakes Storage is designed to replace storage that will be lost when five high mountain lakes currently being used for irrigation storage are modified to maintain a constant water surface. This storage will be filled at the Lower Uintah Reservoir from the first 12.5 cfs in the Uinta River from November 2nd to the end of February each year. The remainder, up to 5,000 acre-feet, wil fill from March 1st through November 1st of each year at the rate of 3% of the Uinta River flow available under the 1964 priority. Water stored in the Lower Uintah Reservoir for the Ouray park Irrigation Company would be released (to the greatest extent possible) to provide instream flows between the Reservoir and the West to East Channel Pipeline diversion. Evaporation and seepage losses from the Lower Uintah Reservoir will be calculated monthly and will be shared based on the percentage of water each interested group has in storage at the beginning of the month.