WEBER AND OGDEN RIVERS -
AREA 35
Updated: September 24, 2004
Changes from previous update in red text.
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. 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.
PREVIOUS PAGE VERSIONS: December 24, 2002, June 14, 2004