From Deseret News archives:
Water plentiful, developers say
Water, after all, is very much the point of the immense complex of developments master planned to surround the Jordanelle Reservoir.
You can float in it, boat in it, pull a lunker out of it or dunk yourself in it trying to wave-hop on water skis.
Yes, water, water everywhere, but is there enough to drink?
What if eventual buildout reaches approximately 13,000 housing units as developers project sometime in the next 15, 20 or 30 years?
Given that water is the West's gold of the 2000s and the oft-parched region is always on the lookout for another bountiful strike, it's a key impact question for a potentially burgeoning area of upscale homes, pricey commercial pads and bountiful recreation interlacing some 20,000 acres.
"The answer is, yes, we feel like we have planned carefully and provided well for present and future water requirements," said Dan Matthews, manager of the Jordanelle Special Service District, created by Wasatch County.
"In fact, right now we've got thousands and thousands of acre-feet of water and 15 actual users," Matthews said. "That user number will go up next year as several developments begin to come on line.
"But I've got people offering me water right now, and I don't believe it's wise to spend the county's money for more until developers demonstrate they're actually going to build some of these projects over the longer haul," he said.
Some people don't think Jordanelle is as well-fixed as advertised for drinking water.
"Wasatch County notoriously has underestimated the amount of water it has needed in its developments and then underenforced its requirements," said Vic Orvis, board member of both Timberlakes, a development east of Heber City, and Canyon Meadows, a cluster of homes in Provo Canyon. "They say they've got all they need, but it isn't like they haven't made mistakes before, because I've seen it in my own subdivisions."
However, LaRen Provost, chairman of the Wasatch County Commission, said, "We spent an entire year with water on the table. We have taken all the steps we need to make sure we have more than enough wet water for Jordanelle."
One of the paradoxes of water at the Jordanelle is that virtually none of the stuff you see in the lake will go for drinking water to homesites overlooking it.
Some 92,400 acre-feet of the nearly 315,000 acre-feet of water in the reservoir goes around the horn to the Wasatch Front.
