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LOGAN, Utah (AP) -- Work to restore the full flow of irrigation water to thousands of acres of northern Utah farmland could be delayed now that a more in-depth environmental study on a canal project is planned.
The water flow was lost in summer 2009 when a mudslide killed a mother and her two children in their Logan home. The Logan Northern Canal broke in the slide, prompting discussions about how to manage the waterways.
In March the Cache County Council agreed to partner with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service on a $27 million project to build a new canal. It would serve customers of the canal that failed and the Logan-Hyde Park-Smithfield Canal. Construction was to start as early as fall.
The possible delay in restoring the water to 7,000 acres of land has prompted some fears of agricultural and economic challenges. Farmers are getting some water this summer from a temporary patchwork of canals. However, there's less water to go around and there is some crop loss.
But the conservation service decided to do a complete Environmental Impact Study on the project instead of an Environmental Assessment. That could add two years to the process.
Projects usually start with an assessment, which determines whether an impact study is needed, said conservation service state conservation engineer Bronson Smart.
"With this project, we just went directly to the EIS because there was some public controversy," Smart said.
The possible delay in restoring the water to 7,000 acres of land has prompted some fears of agricultural and economic challenges.
Farmers are getting some water this summer from a temporary patchwork of canals. However, there's less water to go around and there is some crop loss, said Keith Meikle, president of the newly formed Highline Canal Company, which couples the two waterways.
"It's killing them," said Meikle, who added that some farmers may lose half their summer harvest.
Cache County Council Chairman Gordon Zilles and County Executive Lynn Lemon have drafted a letter to State Conservationist Sylvia Gillen asking her to reconsider the decision to do a full EIS.
Some have blamed a small number of residents for prompting the EIS through their opposition.
Meikle said initially the conservation service said an EA was all that was needed.
But Smart said the official protests of the city of Logan and Utah State University to the canal reconstruction plan also contributed to the decision to do an EIS.
Logan withdrew its protest last week to help farmers hurting for water, said Logan City Light & Power Director Jeff White. The power department had protested the plan but the city as a shareholder voted in favor of it.
"In order for us to continue on with the negotiations in 'good faith' we have chosen to withdraw our protest," White wrote in an e-mail.
Smart said doing an EIS could save time in the long run if potential lawsuits can be headed off.
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Information from: The Herald Journal
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