No agricultural water for S. Weber, Riverdale

In February, a landslide tore through a historic barn in South Weber, leaving a trail of debris and buried memories.

The Birt family — who had owned the barn for three generations — lost equipment for a landscaping business, bales of hay and tools.

At the time, they were grateful nothing more substantial was taken. But now, the Birts and residents north of the slide will be paying for the unstable hillside.

Until the first of May, the cities of South Weber and Riverdale will be without agricultural water.

The Davis & Weber Counties Canal Company, which provides irrigation and secondary water to the two counties, will be forced to divert water, to begin flowing April 15, to shore the hillside where the slide occurred.

"There's no other way to get it to them," said Ivan Ray, general manager of the canal company. "None of us want to take a chance that something could happen."

In 1999, a portion of the canal burst, sending mud sliding through 75 homes in the Riverdale area. While the canal is structurally intact in South Weber, Ray said work to brace the hillside is three times greater than what was done in Riverdale.

If all goes to plan, construction on the proposed $1.68 million stabilization should be completed by May. In the meantime, the Weber and Davis Canal company will pay to have water pumped to customers from the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District's drought-relief pump station.

The canal company services residents from Kaysville north into south Weber County. If one pump from Weber Basin is used, the cost will be $1,250 per day. Up to four pumps could be used at a cost of $5,000 per day.

While residents may end up paying additional money for water, Ray says the canal company can spend up to $4.7 million to pay for the South Weber slide. The company obtained a loan through the Utah Board of Water Resources.

If repairs exceed $4.7 million, the eight cities and residents that use water from the canal company will endure a rate increase.

Rehabilitation funding through the Utah Department of Agriculture or the Federal Emergency Management Agency was unavailable because of the floods in St. George.

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E-mail: nwarburton@desnews.com