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BOX ELDER COUNTY — Water levels are low around Willard Bay this spring. In some areas, a sand bar can be seen just offshore of the dam.
Weber Basin Water Conservancy District general manager Tage Flint says plans to raise the dam could improve conditions in future drought years.
"We think that we're going to buy several decades of new growth with these kinds of projects within our own system," Flint said. "We look to those larger than normal years for runoff to be able to put that additional volume in our reservoir."
Water district managers are currently reviewing bids from contractors. Ideally, work could begin on the dam within the next two to three months. Two feet will be stacked on top of the current 14.5-mile dam, using about 500,000 cubic yards of material.
"The surface area of that reservoir is so large," Flint explained. "It enables us to store a lot more water with just a few feet of elevation."
According to estimates, those two feet could add up to 20,000 more acre feet of storage, or 6 billion gallons.
Total cost of the project design and construction is estimated at around $10 million.
