ST. GEORGE — Details of newly filed documents outlining Utah's intent to build a massive water distribution pipeline from Lake Powell to Sand Hollow Reservoir in Washington County are going on display for public review.

Four community meetings will be held in the next two weeks by the state Division of Water Resources in an effort to update the public and dozens of private landowners whose property might be affected by the 139-mile pipeline.

"We are working with 162 various agencies, cities, Indian tribes, and about 100 private landowners in two different states," said Harold Sersland, the division's environmental coordinator for the project. "It gets to be a real paper mill."

A pre-application document and notice of intent to file an application for original license were submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in Washington, D.C., earlier this month.

Filing of the documents starts the public review and environmental assessment phase of the $585 million project slated to transport 100,000 acre-feet of water to Kane, Washington and Iron counties by 2020.

"This is a much-needed project in southwestern Utah," said division director Dennis Strong. "Even with aggressive conservation, water shortages in southern Utah may begin as early as 2012 if we do not explore other water source options such as Lake Powell."

A pumping station at Lake Powell near Glen Canyon Dam would start the water moving on its way, with booster-pumping stations along the alignment path. Hydroelectric generating facilities also would be constructed and could help offset the cost of the project, according to the documents.

Critics of the pipeline argue against the project is too expensive and should be tabled in favor of smart growth initiatives that would limit population increases and require conservation as a way of life for residents of a desert region like Utah's Dixie.

Washington County Water Conservancy District general manager Ron Thompson said he would like to do an analysis and water supply survey on the question of whether Lake Powell would have enough water to support the pipeline.

"Obviously with the drought we are getting questions about whether the water will be there. I think it will be," Thompson said during a recent Lake Powell Pipeline Management Committee meeting in St. George. "I think I know the worst-case scenario on the Virgin River water supply system, but I don't know about Lake Powell. I need to do that (the same kind of study) on the Colorado River."

If there's not enough water in Lake Powell to sustain the pipeline, Thompson said that kind of news would be the least of the county's water worries.

"If there's not enough water there (for the pipeline), then there's not enough water here. That would be just a minor problem for us because that means the Virgin River would be dry, too," Thompson said. "We'll go through the water supply process as part of our documentation."