INDEX Opinion ............................ 4 Life ................................... 9 Calendar ........................ 10 People ............................ 11 See Obituaries ...................... 13 page 10 Sports ............................ 14 for details Classifieds ...................... 16 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012 VOL. 4 NO. 12 City council vote Low moisture, warm winter opposes hydro plant complicate area water issues decommissioning BY KRISTEN DANIEL BY ASHLEY LANGSTON Staff Writer Managing Editor CEDAR CITY – A quick PAROWAN – The city council voted last Thursday to look at the mountains showing rescind their vote from 2011 to decommission the Center all too much green and not Creek Hydroelectric Plant, and plans to explore options enough white tells the story of again, this time with the participation of the Parowan Res- a winter that hasn’t quite done ervoir Company. its job, but what determines The council voted last February to decommission or the water levels in the ground sale the plant, after receiving a projected cost for the plant’s is more complicated than the refurbishing that was higher than they believed to be finan- simple number of inches it cially responsible. snowed. Councilor Alan Adams said the council felt that if the For Cedar Valley, accessible reservoir company was willing to participate, that made the water is all about how much is project feasible. in the ground. This is different Additionally, Adams said, he believes the biggest reason from areas that depend on sur- most of the councilors felt the city should not decommission face water such as lakes and riv- the plant is that they do not want to lose the water rights ers for their water supply. And that are tied to it. Councilor Troy Houston said in a January the number of inches it snows meeting that when they voted to decommission or sale the every year is far less important plant, last year, the water issue had not been explained to than the moisture content in them. the snow. Water comes from Parowan Canyon into a pipe, referred The same dry snow that is to as the penstock, that runs through town and to the current great for skiers is not good for Center Creek Hydroelectric Plant, which is not operational. the aquifer. Cedar City obtains From the plant, it separates and continues to flow, mostly its water from the underground through pipes, so those with water rights have access to it. aquifer or “ground water” and The city owns the non-consumptive water right for the not surface water such as lakes water that comes into the plant, and those downstream own and rivers. “consumptive use” shares, Adams said. Currently, Cedar Valley and The city owns about a quarter of those consumptive use surrounding mountains are at shares for the pressurized irrigation system, he added. approximately 52 percent of If the city, and the farmers, were to lose their water, it moisture content for this time would be very detrimental to the city in the long run, Adams of year, and the warm winter said. Plans are not firm at this point as to the degree of the weather melted much of what reservoir company’s participation, and it is not decided little snow pack there was. whether the plant will be moved farther up the canyon or Clark Adams of the Utah stay in its current location. Division of Water Rights said “The details are going to have to be worked out,” Adams snow that melts in the winter said. runs into surface water like coal Ashley LANGSTON At this point, though, the council is feeling more opti- creek and is not able to be used mistic and both the city and reservoir company are eager to COAL CREEK winds down Cedar Canyon and through Cedar City, bringing runoff from the mountains. move forward and get the plant operational. SEE WATER | 7 The timing and amount of water coming down affects how much water ends up in the aquifer. SEE PAROWAN | 8 UDOT informs public on SR 14 progress, schedule BY KRISTEN DANIEL be rebuilt. projects will be approximately from the landslide consists of Staff Writer Phase one of the actual six to eight weeks after limited boulders as big as houses, and construction, beginning with access of the road is restored. full-grown trees with complete CEDAR CITY – Area the removal of large debris The new road will be built root systems intact, Lief Condie, residents were invited to an such as trees and boulders, is on top of the landslide after the resident UDOT engineer, said. open house at Festival Hall on schedule to begin March 15, large material is removed. The Many at the meeting asked conducted by the Utah Depart- and a sub-grade road base will dirt will be packed down, sta- how they were going to haul all ment of Transportation on con- be complete for limited access bilized, and moved to buttress that debris and dirt away, and struction plans and timelines on June 1, said UDOT Region and support the current slide the answer is, they aren’t. for reopening state Route 14, 4 Public Involvement Manager area and other problem spots Only 400,000 cubic yards which was closed last October Kevin Kitchen. that have been in need of repair of material will be hauled away after a massive landslide. Exactly what “limited for years. from the landslide, and all of Personnel from UDOT and access” will entail is yet to be When the new stretch of that will stay in the canyon and the main contractor, Kiewit, determined but currently it is road is finished it will be raised used in buttresses to shore up were present and circulated planned for Friday, Saturday, in elevation, and will be moved other trouble spots in the road. among the crowd to answer and Sunday only, Kitchen said. north, or further away from the The big boulders will have questions and hear concerns The remainder of phase one mountain, in comparison to the to be blasted before they can be from those at the meeting as to and phase two will be complete old road. It will have a steeper moved, Condie said. KRISTEN DANIEL how the section of road that slid when the road is completely grade as well at 8 percent. Phase three of the project away and rests, mangled, near rebuilt and paved and traffic The approximately 1.3 THOSE WHO AttENDED a “Restore State Route 14” project open the bottom at the canyon will can flow freely, which Kitchen million cubic yards of debris SEE SR 14 | 6 house last week look at displays showing photos of the landslide. 2 Wednesday, February 29, 2012 NEWS Iron County Today Agencies identify Council hears reports on water issues BY KRISTEN DANIEL increase since 2000. springs. The district cannot act on the fil- alleged ‘mountain Staff Writer City Engineer Kit Wareham said they ing in any way until it is approved by the are “actually going to look at rates really Utah State Engineer. CEDAR CITY – The city council soon.” The district’s filing has met objections heard reports last Wednesday on water A senior citizen at the meeting from Beaver County, the BLM, and other man’ cabin burglar issues including current water usage from addressed the council and said he was entities. CICWCD Board Chair Brent City Senior Engineer Jonathan Stathis, concerned that another rate hike would Hunter said they want to be good neigh- and the possibility of future sources of harm senior members of the community bors, and work with others on the issue. BY ASHLEY LANGSTON ing counties, and there is a lot of water from the Central Iron County and those on fixed incomes. He suggested Two failed economic endeavors have Managing Editor information sharing occurring Water Conservancy District. the council and the water division con- filed on water in the valleys in the past currently, he added. Stathis presented the council with sider a $2 surcharge each month for all and have already conducted studies and IRON COUNTY – The “It’s the way it should be the review of the 2011 Water Report for water users that would go into a fund for constructed test wells, so Crane said they Iron County and Kane County done, the best way to serve the Cedar City. He reported that there is a operating the system and funding needed are lucky to have hard science and data Sheriff’s Offices believe they public,” he said of the collabora- downward trend in water use, which he water projects. to look at that someone else paid for now have a name to go with the tive effort between counties. attributed to their conservation efforts The city acquired 369 acre feet of and that supports their claim the water face of the alleged cabin burglar Knapp is believed to have including limiting when citizens can water water in 2011, Stathis reported. The city is there. who has been utilizing, stealing committed dozens of burglar- or irrigate property, and adjusting rates owns the rights to 19.737 acre feet of If the district’s filing on the water is from, and sometimes vandal- ies in Iron, Kane, Garfield, and for those using more than 8,000 gallons water and projects it will need 20,256 eventually approved by the state engineer, izing mountain cabins for about Washington Counties. per month. acre feet of water over the next 40 years, which Hunter does not think will happen five years. A photo taken Per capita daily water usage fell from assuming there are 80,000 people in the until after the upcoming fall elections, it Troy James by a trail camera 265 gallons in 2006 to 218 gallons in city by that time.