By Jerry Spangler
Deseret Morning News

      WASHINGTON — Call it a not-so-harmonic convergence for water-starved communities in the West.
      On one hand, the 470 dams, 58 hydroelectric plans and 300 other facilities administered by the Bureau of Reclamation are inching past old age to where some are decrepit. In fact, the average age of the facilities is now more than 50 years, and many are well beyond their expected life span.
      Coming the other direction is suburban sprawl, which has dramatically increased the demand for more and better quality water.
      "There will be even greater demands placed on the West's limited water resources and Reclamation's aging projects, many of which are well beyond their designed life," said Tony Willardson, deputy director of the Midvale-based Western States Water Council.
      "The billion dollar question is how should Reclamation programs and projects be funded?"
      Water experts from across the nation testified Tuesday before the House Subcommittee on Water and Power, with most telling lawmakers that more federal assistance, not less, is needed to bring existing facilities up to standard and build new facilities to meet the burgeoning demand.
      For example, enclosing the Provo Reservoir Canal is expected to save tremendous amounts of water, but it will cost $120 million. And the Salt Lake Aqueduct, which runs from Deer Creek Dam to a terminal reservoir at Little Cottonwood Canyon, is "now in dire need of repair and rehabilitation," said Keith Denos, president of the Utah Water Users Association. The cost for that project alone is $300 million.
      And even though the water officials were successful in getting some federal matching money, "the $150,000 and $300,000 grants that were awarded do not go very far in addressing the hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure rehabilitation costs needed for just this one Reclamation project," Denos said in his official testimony.
      Last year, Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, and Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, pushed through legislation transferring title of the aqueduct and canal to the Metropolitan Water District and the Provo River Water Users Association, respectively. That makes it possible for both projects to apply for low-interest state or private loans.
      Other water projects around the country are watching with interest, seeing non-federal ownership as one possible solution to the funding crisis.
      Because water facilities are owned by the Bureau of Reclamation, the water associations who deliver the water to farms and homes have no collateral to offer lenders. And without collateral, there is no money to repair the water systems or invest in greater efficiencies.
      But if the federal government is willing to give up title to the water associations, while still committing some federal assistance, low-interest state and private water development loans could be directed at the problem.
      Officials also point to a $5.9 billion balance in a Reclamation Fund first created in 1902 as a means to finance Western water projects through water and power sales.
      "While receipts in the past were insufficient for construction of major federal projects, today it appears that the Reclamation Fund could serve as a revolving account that would pay for Reclamation and related-water resources programs and needs in the West," Willardson testified.
      "Perhaps it is time to focus federal financial resources intended to aid in Western water development to help state and local agencies meet future challenges," he added.
      John W. Keyes, commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation, said the agency has focused its efforts on beefing up security around dam sites, repairing aging dams and improving how water is used in the arid West.
      The agency has looked at the feasibility of new dams in California, but Keyes warned "we must be realistic about costs," noting that steel, fuel and concrete have all experienced dramatic cost spikes.
      "In many Western river basins, the water needs of today are too great to simply await the development of new storage, which can take decades to complete," he said.
      Keyes encouraged an expansion of cost-sharing partnerships, environmental innovations to find ways to conserve water and protect wildlife, and better legislation that helps rural water users.
      "As with many other things in life, aging can have significant effects and impacts on not only the facilities themselves but on the need to dedicate an increasing amount of our resources into maintaining and upgrading our existing infrastructure," Keyes said.

Source:  http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,600149822,00.html