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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A pipeline project that would bring water to the rapidly growing communities of arid southwestern Utah moved a step closer toward construction Wednesday.
The House Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee voted unanimously to advance the a bill to authorize the Lake Powell Pipeline project. Sponsored by Sen. Tom Hatch, R-Panguitch, the bill has already cleared the Senate.
The bill gives the state the green light for planning the 120-mile pipeline from the south end of Lake Powell, through Kanab, Utah, Fredonia, Ariz., and then back into Utah, pumping water into the Sand Hollow Reservoir west of St. George. The pipeline is expected to generate 74,000 acre-feet of water a year for communities in southern Utah, according to state water managers.
Utah's population rate is growing at three times the national average and much of that growth is occurring in the state's warmer, sunnier southern climate. In Washington County, about 1,000 new residents are moving in each month, said Ronald Thompson, manager of the county's water conservancy district.
"There will be over 600,000 by 2050 ... We need to get this pipeline producing water before 2020," Thompson said.
Under Hatch's bill, the state will build and pay for the pipeline, but the money will be recouped, with interest, through water sales, the senator said.
"Construction won't start till 70 percent (of the water) is under contract," Hatch said. "And that will not be a problem. The need is great."
Early estimates place pipeline construction at $340 million. Hatch says the final costs will likely be about $600 million, because water districts in Kane and Iron counties, north of St. George, are expressing interest in extending the pipeline to their areas.
No state money is being appropriated for the pipeline project this year. Hatch says actual funding requests remain roughly five years away.
The bill also sets up a pipeline board to oversee planning and construction.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
