Flaming Gorge water releases anger Uintah officials

High water releases from Flaming Gorge Dam, part of an endangered-fish study, are riling downstream residents. In a time of natural flooding, Uintah County commissioners ask, why should humans add to the overflow?

Flooding from the Green River near Jensen, Uintah County, has covered cropland and threatens to produce infestations of mosquitoes and noxious weeds. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation says capacity-level releases will remain high for the next week.

The situation is just one of the many headaches recurring across Utah because of this year's heavy spring runoff.

In Davis County, the runoff undercut a road in Farmington Canyon, forcing the route's closure.

In Salt Lake County, searchers found the body of 76-year-old Cynthia Lark, who drowned in Mill Creek near her home. She had dementia and was unsteady on her feet, an officer said.

National Weather Service flood warnings were in effect for the Bear River, the Sevier River and the upper Weber River. Moderate flooding was expected to continue there.

Recently, flooding hit the Upper Sevier River Basin in the areas of Mammoth Creek and Navajo Lake, the Weather Service reported.

"Flooding of large homes along Mammoth Creek in Garfield County is occurring," the Weather Service said. Also, groundwater is reportedly "upwelling . . . into homes along Navajo Lake in Kane County."

From Smith and Morehouse Reservoir to Rockport Reservoir, the upper Weber River continues to cause minor flooding, the Weather Service said. "The river is flooding homes adjacent to the river mostly above Rockport Reservoir."

Flaming Gorge Dam managers have been dumping as much water as the spillways can handle into the Green River to check whether high water will help the river's endangered fish. But farmers downstream are unhappy about inundated fields.

High flows might be good for endangered fish, said Uintah County Commissioner Mike McKee, reached by telephone in commission offices in Vernal, "but it certainly causes controversy when it relates to the farmlands and pumps and mosquitoes and noxious weeds."

Farmers had to pull out their pumps so they would not be damaged by the high waters. But fields that were not flooded won't get the irrigation they need. On lower land, he added, floodwaters killed alfalfa, harming farmers financially.