AREA 11 - SNAKE RIVER TRIBUTARIES

Updated: April 3, 2011

  MANAGEMENT

Two Proposed Determination of Water Rights books have been published. The George Creek and Johnson Creek book was published in 1959 and a final decree was issued in 1963. The Goose Creek, Raft River, and Clear Creek book was published in 1956, but no final decree has been issued. Other court decrees in this area are the 1925 Goose Creek Decree, the 1928 Johnson Creek Decree, and the 1937 Clear Creek Decree. The are two state-administered distribution system in this area: the Clear Creek Distribution System, and the George Creek Distribution System. Click here to see statistics for this area.

  SOURCES

Surface Water - Surface waters are considered to be fully appropriated. New surface diversions and uses must be accomplished by change applications filed on owned or acquired existing rights. Non-consumptive use applications, such as hydroelectric power generation, will be considered on their individual merits.

Ground Water - Valley locations are open for reasonable ground-water applications (generally less than 2 cfs), canyon areas above full appropriated springs and streams are closed. Changes from surface to underground sources, and vice versa, are also considered on their individual merits, with emphasis on their potential to interfere with existing rights and to ensure that there is no enlargement of the underlying rights. Fixed-time or temporary projects are evaluated in a similar fashion. Applications are considered on their individual merits.

  GENERAL

Applications are advertised in the Box Elder News Journal. Filings that may involve the diversion of water in Utah for use in Idaho or Nevada (export) would be subject to the special criteria the statutes require for such projects. The general irrigation diversion duty for this area, which the State Engineer uses for evaluation purposes, is 3.0 acre-feet per acre per year. The consumptive use requirement is determined from the publication Consumptive Use of Irrigated Crops in Utah, Research Report 145, Utah State University, 1994, unless the applicant submits other data for consideration. This area is administered by the Northern Regional Office in Logan.

Other Requirements

The Water Right applicant is strongly cautioned that other permits may be required before any physical development of a project can begin and it is the responsibility of the applicant to determine the applicability of and acquisition of such permits. In order to avoid delays and ensure that Water Right approvals conform to applicable local ordinances, applicants should contact local governmental entities in advance to determine what ordinances are in place that affect the proposed project and to make sure that Water Right filings conform to those ordinances. The approval of a Water Right application does not imply any approval of a project by any other governmental entity. Approval of the project proposed in the Water Right application should be obtained from local governmental entities as necessary to implement a project.

  REFERENCES

No Technical Publications or other publications specifically cover this area.

  MODELING

Regional Ground-Water Flow, Carbonate-Rock Province, Nevada, Utah, and Adjacent States; USGS Open-File Reports 93-170 and 93-420; 1993.

  PREVIOUS PAGE UPDATES

None available.

Policy area in green,
click on the map for more detail

  DESCRIPTION

Located in the northwest corner of Box Elder County from T13N to T15N, this area includes George, Johnson, Pole, Hardesty, Goose, and Clear Creeks and a loop of the Raft River. It is bordered on the north by Idaho, on the east by Curlew Valley, on the south by the Great Salt Lake Desert, and on the west by Nevada. The highest point in the area is 9,601 foot George Peak, while the lowest is where Goose Creek enters Idaho at about 4,940 feet, giving a total relief of about 4,460 feet.