AREA 95 - FREMONT RIVER

Updated: April 17, 2011

  MANAGEMENT

The Fremont River (Judge McCarty) Decree of 1902, the Road Creek (Judge Erickson) Decree of 1914, the Pleasant and Oak Creek (Judge Bates) Decree of 1926, and the Fremont River (Judge Bates) Decree of 1935 awarded the flows. The State Engineer administers distribution systems on the Lower Fremont and on Road Creek to oversee allocation of many of the rights. Because this area is part of the Colorado River basin, the conditions of the 1922 Colorado River Compact, the 1944 Mexican Treaty and the 1948 Upper Colorado River Compact and the State Engineer's Colorado River Policy apply. Click here to see statistics for this area.

  SOURCES

Surface Water - New surface diversions and uses must be accomplished by change applications filed on owned or acquired existing rights. Non-consumptive applications may be considered in a non-priority order based on their individual merits and water availability. Fixed-period or transient projects involving surface water must be handled by, even non-consumptive activities such as pressure testing on pipelines if they occur during the irrigation season.

Ground Water - The State Engineer believes that there is limited unappropriated water available from the underground resource. Generally this supply is to be allocated only for domestic purposes of one family (0.45 acre-foot), irrigation of 0.25 acre (0.75 acre-foot), and a nominal amount of stockwatering to individual applicants. Proposals exceeding these limits may be approved based on individual merit. Applications are not approved in areas served by municipal systems, but they can be allowed within subdivisions and above the valley fill in . In accordance with the Colorado River drainage policy, approvals will be given five years from the approval date to show diligence in development of the project and submission of proof. Granting of extensions of time would require unusual circumstances.

  GENERAL

The State Engineer is presently engaged in compiling a proposed determination of water rights in this drainage. Two books of the adjudication process have been published: Pleasant and Sandy Creeks Subdivision (1961) and Loa-Bicknell Subdivision (1992), both of the Dirty Devil River Division. The irrigation duty in this area is 4 acre-feet per acre. The consumptive requirement is 2.2 acre-feet per acre. 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 Sevier River/Southern Regional Office in Richfield.

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

Technical Publication No. 22. Reconnaissance of the Ground-water Resources of the Upper Fremont River Valley, 1969.

Technical Publication No. 65. Reconnaissance of Chemical quality of Surface Water and Fluvial Sediment in the Dirty Devil River Basin, 1979.

Technical Publication No. 66. Aquifer Tests of the Navajo Sandston New Caineville, 1979.

Technical Publication No. 68. Bedrock Aquifers in the Lower Dirty Devil River Basin Area, 1981.

  MODELING

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