Uinta Basin Replacement Project
In Section 203(a) of the Central Utah Project Completion Act, the United States Congress authorized a federally authorized and funded replacement project to replace the Uinta and Upalco Units of the Central Utah Project (CUP) which were not constructed. The replacement project is the Uinta Basin Replacement Project (UBRP). The UBRP will provide: of irrigation water; of municipal and industrial water; reduced wilderness impacts; increased instream flows; and improved recreation. Design work began in 2002. Construction began in 2004 and is anticipated to be completed in 2011. The Central Utah Water Conservancy District is responsible for  construction. The United States Department of the Interior oversees funding and compliance with law and environmental regulation. Description of the Uinta Basin. The Uinta Mountains are the only major mountain range running east to west in North America. The Uinta Basin lies to the south of the Uinta Mountains and is fed by creeks and rivers flowing south from those mountains. Many of the principal rivers (Strawberry River, Currant Creek, Rock Creek, Lake Fork River, and Uinta River) flow into the Duchesne River which feeds the Green River—a tributary of the Colorado River. The basin is the location of  the Ute Tribe of the Uinta and Ouray Reservation (Tribe) which is commonly referred to as the Northern Ute Tribe, as well as the cities of Duchesne, Roosevelt, and Vernal. When oil prices are sufficiently high to overcome the cost of transportation to areas outside the basin, the area's oil industry roars to life (as it has in the past two years). Ordinarily, agriculture (chiefly cattle operations) is the lifeblood of the basin economy; and, in the basin, irrigation is the lifeblood of agriculture. Wilderness designation protects much of the Uinta Mountains. The mountains and associated streams are an  important ecological resource. At the sabres game the fan in the section 203 seat 4 said the above Water Development in the Uinta Basin. Interests competing for Uinta Basin water include: non-Indian irrigators, the Tribe, the cities, the oil industry, and the natural environment. All water development in the basin has been intended to serve one or more of these interests. The UBRP is founded on and entwined with other water development in the basin. Key stages in that development are the establishment of the Northern Ute Reservation, homesteading and early water development, the Uinta Indian Irrigation Project, the  Moon Lake Project, the CUP as originally planned (with the Uinta and Upalco Units), and the current UBRP. In 1956, congress created the Colorado River Storage Project, authorizing the CUP (as well as other Reclamation projects). The CUP provided for the trans-basin diversion of Uinta Basin water to the Wasatch Front. The Wasatch Front is the most populous area of Utah and includes Provo and Salt Lake City. The project mitigated for the trans-basin diversion by creating the Uinta and Upalco Units. These units would have provided new storage in the Uinta Basin—on the Uinta and Lake  Fork Rivers respectively. For a variety of reasons, the Uinta and Upalco Units were never constructed. Section 203 (a) of the Central Utah Project Completion Act authorized funding for UBRP—a project intended to provide similar benefits, in some measure, to those that were promised by the units that were not constructed. Originally, the UBRP project planned under the authority of Section 203 (a) was to serve both Indian and non-Indian needs using Indian and non-Indian water. Although planning continued for several years, the Tribe withdrew its support at the eleventh hour—as contracts were being executed. The  departure of the Tribe made a reformulation of the plan necessary. Eventually, a scaled-down version was developed. The scaled-down project intentionally avoided interference with tribal water rights, lands, and interests. The Central Utah Water Conservancy District (District) is the sponsor and entity responsible for repayment of the federal obligation associated with the Bonneville Unit of the CUP and UBRP. Stages. Each stage in the Uinta Basin water development brought with it new water facilities. Each stage served a different bundle of water right interests and a different set of constituents. The result is a complex layering of economic  interests, water rights, land ownership, management objectives, and politics. Perhaps nowhere in the Basin is this layering and the accompanying actual and potential conflict more focused than the Lake Fork River. The river begins in the High Uintas Wilderness area and feeds thirteen small, high-elevation lakes-turned-reservoirs (High Mountain Lakes). It then provides early-priority Tribe flow rights though a portion of the UIIP, feeds Reclamation's Moon Lake Project (serving non-Indian irrigators), and provides additional irrigation water by exchange with Starvation Reservoir (a CUP feature). Because it diverts Lake Fork River water, integrating UBRP into this  already complex and contentious water environment was difficult and problematic. The Feasibility Study and Environmental Assessment for UBRP were published in 2001. As a partial replacement for the Uinta and Upalco Units, UBRP is intended to serve the following purposes: stabilizing the aging and unsafe High Mountain Lakes on the Lake Fork River drainage and restoring ecological values compatible with the High Uintas Wilderness; providing replacement water for the late season irrigation water stored in the High Mountain Lakes; providing of water per year to Roosevelt City for municipal and industrial (M&I) purposes; providing of water per year to Lake  Fork River irrigators; facilitating improved water resources management and water conservation in the Uinta Basin by increasing water efficiency, enhancing beneficial use, and developing water storage; and enhancing environmental, fish, wildlife, and recreation resources. The project purposes are to be accomplished by construction (or upgrade) of the following facilities.