Crews testing water flows on Diamond Fork Pipeline

SPANISH FORK — Project managers this week are testing water-flow controls of pipelines and tunnels that funnel water to Utah and Salt Lake counties.

Crews have worked for nearly four years on the $150 million Upper Diamond Fork project.

The district will operate the pipeline, which moves water from the sixth Water Aqueduct to the Diamond Fork Pipeline and down the canyon seven miles to the Spanish Fork River.

Completion was six months early, despite a setback in October 2001 when tunnel builders ran into a pocket of sulfur. They eventually had to back out and bury 7,000 feet of tunnel, including a $2.6 million boring machine at Tanner Ridge, about 13 miles east of U.S. 6.

The pipeline had to be rerouted.

"We regard this as a real milestone," CUWCD construction manager Lee Wimmer said Wednesday. Completion of the pipeline allows full delivery of 86,100 acre-feet a year from Jordanelle Reservoir to Utah Lake. That amount will eventually reach 100,900 acre-feet, replacing water that is taken from the Provo River for north Utah and Salt Lake counties. Deliveries have been restricted to about 45,000 acre-feet annually in recent years.

For decades Strawberry Reservoir water poured through the Syar Tunnel and down Diamond Fork Creek to irrigate south Utah County crops.

Each watering season the creek would fill with rushing water that would damage the fishery before emptying into the Spanish Fork River. A series of canals was used to move it from the river to area farmland.

Now officials will combine Strawberry Reservoir with Central Utah Project water in the pipeline which should calm the stream flow, Wimmer said.

"It will improve the (fishery) habitat," he said. "We'll keep enough water in the river for a good fishery."

Project managers are hand testing computerized flow control systems at various stations along the pipeline around the clock this week. Overflow systems capable of discharging thousands of gallons into the creek, are also being tested.

The testing will shut down for the weekend, then start again on Monday, Wimmer said. Campers and outdoor enthusiasts should be aware of potential high river flows and take precautions, Finlinson said.

For testing details go to the CUWCD Web site, www.cuwcd.com/operations/diamondfork.htm.

Water coming through Diamond Fork Canyon will eventually be divided between south Utah County and Salt Lake County with each receiving 30,000 acre-feet a year, Finlinson said.