WEBER AND OGDEN RIVERS - AREA 35

Updated: December 24, 2002

DESCRIPTION: This area includes the main stem of the Ogden River and its tributaries (North, Middle, and South Forks) in Weber County and the main stem of the Weber River and its tributaries (Beaver Creek, East Canyon Creek, Chalk Creek, Heiners Creek, Lost Creek, and Cottonwood Creek) in Weber, Morgan, and western Summit Counties. Click here to see a map of the area.

MANAGEMENT: The 1937 Weber River Decree and the 1948 Ogden River Decree adjudicated the area=s surface water rights prior to those dates. No adjudications have been ordered to update these decrees or include ground-water rights. There are two state-administered distribution systems in this area: the Weber River Distribution System and the Ogden River Distribution System. The State Engineer's Interim Policy for the Snyderville/Park City Basin and the Weber Delta Subarea Ground-water Management Plan are management policies affecting specific parts of the this area.

SOURCES: SURFACE WATER - Surface waters are considered to be fully appropriated. Diligence Claims may be filed on water uses not in the decrees and which were established prior to 1903 for surface water and 1935 for underground water. New diversions and consumptive uses in these sources must be accomplished by change applications filed on owned or acquired rights. Non-consumptive use applications, such as hydroelectric power generation, will be considered on their individual merits. Fixed period or transient projects in canyon or foothill areas must be handled by temporary change applications.

GROUND WATER - There is a limited ground-water resource available. No new appropriations are approved above the mouths of the canyons. Some applications on drains or shallow wells have been approved for moderate amounts in the lower reaches of the system near the Great Salt Lake. Development of new or different consumptive use projects in these areas must be accomplished by change applications on owned or acquired rights. New appropriations below the canyons are reviewed on an individual basis. Individual domestic filings for 1.0 acre-foot per year are generally approved where a public water supply is not accessible. Larger projects are generally held pending development of approved rights and data from water users. 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. Applicants are placed on notice that development should be pursued as soon as possible. Extension of time requests will be critically reviewed beyond the initial five year period.

Approvals based on irrigation company stock or leases generally contain conditions requiring maintenance of shares or contracts for the underlying changed rights and/or installation of measuring devices. In some instances, further limitations are imposed as follows:

Snyderville/Park City Sub-basin: Only change or exchange applications based on rights already approved within this boundaries of this sub-basin are approved. See the management plan referenced above for more details.

Samak Area: Changes on shares of stock in Beaver and Shingle Creek Irrigation Company are subject to evaluation of the shares at 0.3 acres of irrigation per share, maintenance of those shares, installation of measuring devices, and the restriction of irrigation at the new diversion to the same period in which water is available in the original canal system.

Garff Ranch/Kamas Area: Exchanges based on contracts with the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District are limited to inside domestic uses with in the Indian Creek drainage. Applications for lots not tributary to Indian Creek may include irrigation.

GENERAL: Applications are advertised in the Ogden Standard-Examiner, the Morgan County News, the Summit County Bee, or the Park City Record. Filings that may involve the diversion of water in Utah for use in Wyoming (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 4.0 acre-feet per acre per year (af/ac) in valley regions of western Weber County and 3.0 af/ac in the canyons and upper valleys. The consumptive use requirements are 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 Weber River Regional Office in Salt Lake City.

REFERENCES: Technical Publication No. 2, The Ogden Valley Artesian Reservoir, Weber County, Utah; Utah State Engineer; 1945.

Technical Publication No. 27, Water Resources of the Heber-Kamas-Park City Area, North-Central Utah; Utah Department of Natural Resources; 1970.

Technical Publication No. 35, Ground-water Conditions in the East Shore Area, Box Elder, Davis, and Weber Counties, Utah, 1960-69; Utah Department of Natural Resources; 1972.

Technical Publication No. 76, Reconnaissance of the Quality of Surface Water in the Weber River Basin, Utah; Utah Department of Natural Resources; 1983.

Technical Publication No. 77, Ground-water Reconnaissance of the Central Weber River Area, Morgan and Summit Counties, Utah; Utah Department of Natural Resources; 1984.

Technical Publication No. 85, Water Resources of the Park City Area, Utah, with Emphasis on Ground Water; Utah Department of Natural Resources; 1986.

Technical Publication No. 90, Seepage Studies of the Weber River and the Davis-Weber and Ogden Valley Canals, Davis and Weber Counties, Utah, 1985; Utah Department of Natural Resources; 1987.

Technical Publication No. 93, Ground-Water Resources of the East Shore Area of the Great Salt Lake, Utah, and Simulated Effects of Ground-Water Withdrawals; Utah Department of Natural Resources; 1990.

Technical Publication No. 99, Hydrology of Ogden Valley and the Surrounding Area, Eastern Weber County, Utah, and Computer Simulation of the Valley-Fill Aquifer System; Utah Department of Natural Resources; 1990.

Technical Publication No. 115, Hydrology and snowmelt simulation of Snyderville Basin, Park City, and adjacent areas, Summit County, Utah; Utah Department of Natural Resources; 1998.

Basic Data Report No. 1, Records and Water-Level Measurements of Selected Wells and Chemical Analyses of Ground Water, East Shores Areas, Weber and Box Elder Counties, Utah; Utah State Engineer; 1961.

Basic Data Report No. 45, Selected Hydrologic Data from Wells in the East Shore Area of the Great Salt Lake, Utah, 1985; Utah Department of Natural Resources; 1986.

Information Bulletin No. 9, Projected 1975 Municipal Water Use Requirements, Weber County, Utah; Utah State Engineer; 1962.

Water Resource Bulletin No. 29, The Geology of the Kamas-Coalville Region, Summit County, Utah, and its Relation to Ground-Water Conditions; Utah Geological Survey; 2002.

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

Morgan Valley Ground-water Flow Model; 1984.

Ogden Valley Ground-water Flow Model; 1991.

Weber Delta Ground-water Flow Model, 1990.