Water Conservancy District Manager Provide Project Updates

Paul Monroe, General Manager of the Central Iron County Water Conservancy District, joined the Big Picture Morning Show on KSUB radio recently to discuss the realities of southern Utah’s water situation and the steps being taken to ensure long-term sustainability.

“We’re currently under the United States Drought Monitor at a level 2 which is an extreme drought,” Monroe said during the interview. “It seems drier, especially where, you know, we had a relatively really dry winter, we had a dry spring. We finally got some rains in June. I’ve had some calls where it’s like, hey, we’ve got some springs dried up. We’ve never seen these dry up before.”

Paul Monroe In Studio

Coal Creek, a key indicator of local water supply, is running at about 5 cubic feet per second compared to its seasonal average of 18. Monroe noted, “We’ve had data on Coal Creek since 1918… it’s set a near record low of the amount of flow that’s there.”

Aquifer Levels Dropping In Iron County

Beyond drought, Monroe emphasized the structural challenge of overallocation. “On average, we use about 7000 acre feet more per year than what goes in,” he explained. “Since the 1980s, when we had really good water years, our aquifer levels have been dropping. The state has come in and has implemented a groundwater management plan where they will start reducing water rights over time. Those first cuts occur in 2035.”

To address these concerns, Monroe outlined a three-pronged approach: conservation, recharge, and reuse. One key initiative involves capturing excess water and redirecting it into gravel pits to recharge the aquifer rather than letting it evaporate. Another major project underway is the reuse of treated wastewater. “We have currently under construction a type 1 filtration pile cloth filtration plant… we will bring that back, pump it back in and we’ll deliver that to the city parks, cemetery, golf courses, SUU, a lot of the green spaces here in Cedar Valley,” Monroe said. He credited local Congresswoman Celeste Maloy for helping secure $5 million in federal funding to move the project forward.

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Looking long term, Monroe highlighted the Pine Valley Water Supply Project, which has been in development since 2006. After securing adjudicated water rights in 2019 through a settlement with Beaver County, SITLA, and the state engineer’s office, the district began a lengthy environmental review. “It’s been really interesting,” Monroe said. “We’ve had to analyze a lot of things. There’s been a lot of studies. There’s been a lot of reports that have been put together for this.” The project is designed to be environmentally sound while delivering up to 15,000 acre feet annually to Cedar Valley.

Monroe emphasized that importing water from Pine Valley, coupled with local reuse and recharge, will diversify the region’s supply and reduce dependence on Cedar Valley’s small watershed. “It’s drought and we all need to recognize that,” he said.