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TOQUERVILLE, Washington County — A ceremony Tuesday to break ground on a new reservoir in southwest Utah was about 20 years in the making, but it's well worth the wait, says Washington County Commissioner Gil Almquist.
"It's amazing that it's taken this long ... but (it's) so vital to our reuse program," he said, standing on the land that will soon be a part of the new body of water.
The planned Toquer Reservoir, which is expected to take about two years to complete, won't be very large. Washington County Water Conservancy District officials say that it will cover about 115 acres near I-15 and state Route 17 north of Toquerville, where Ash Creek flows through. It's projected to contain as much as 3,725 acre-feet of water once it's filled, almost 14 times smaller than Sand Hollow, the district's largest reservoir.
The initial foundation work is currently expected to be completed by the spring of 2024. Embankment construction for the 125-foot tall, 1,270-foot wide dam is projected to take another 18 months after that, district officials said.
It's part of the $94 million Ash Creek Project, which includes an almost 19-mile pipeline that will connect the Ash Creek Reservoir near New Harmony to the new Toquer Reservoir. The Bureau of Land Management released an environmental assessment report about it in 2019, and its construction is already underway.
It'll also collect water from the Leap, South Ash and Wet Sandy creeks.
While smaller in size, county officials say the new reservoir can play a large role as the region continues to grow in population. The new reservoir can help ensure there's water available for residents, farmers and ranchers in the region as water scarcity remains a concern, Almquist said.
"Upstream, we used to lose a lot of water just underground," Almquist said. "And now by piping that water into reservoir ... we're not just losing it into the ground anymore — plus there's a beautiful spring that we can convert now into culinary use, which will be perfect."
U.S. Department of the Interior directed $4.74 million toward the project earlier this year from funds generated by the 2022 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. In all, about $15 million in funds were poured into the project by federal, state and county grants.
The project also opens up new recreation potential in the region. Project officials say the ultimate goal is to make it a state park through a partnership with the Utah Division of State Parks, which would manage non-motorized boating on the water and campsites by its shore.
The division operates state park facilities at three other of the Washington County Water Conservancy District's reservoirs. In fact, Sand Hollow was Utah's most-visited state park in 2022, drawing in a little more than 1 million visitors.
Contributing: Marc Weaver
