The United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), with assistance from Price City (project sponsor) and Carbon Canal Company, Price-Wellington Canal Company, and Gay Ditch Company as co-sponsors, proposes improvements that are essential to improve efficiency, resiliency, and reliability of the existing water management systems in the watershed. The main goal of the project is to address current annual shortages and concerns related to water supply for various user groups. This would be achieved by enhancing water resources through solutions such as water storage, increased regulation capacity, more efficient water delivery systems, and improved water conservation methods. The proposed project is intended to improve reliability and availability of water resources in the watershed by:

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• Collecting and storing water during periods of non-use, low demand, or high flow during irrigation season.

• Ensuring adequate water flow during the irrigation season.

• Improving the efficiency of water delivery systems.

• Enhancing water conservation practices.

The project is needed to improve agricultural water management by addressing frequent and recurring water shortages in agricultural, municipal, and industrial water supplies. These shortages are due to a combination of long-term climatic trends affecting the amount of water available for users in the Upper Price River Watershed, seasonal imbalances that affect the timing of water availability and use, lack of a local storage facility, inefficient water usage in municipalities and agricultural irrigation systems, deficiencies in agricultural water delivery system that contribute to water loss associated with seepage and evaporation, and an upcoming inter-basin transfer project that would further reduce the amount of water available to users. A water storage reservoir in the valley is needed to capture high spring runoff for use later in the season, to provide potential for improving irrigation water management through the conversion to pressurized irrigation systems, and to allow for exchanges with municipal and industrial users.

An evaluation of potential project alternatives and associated environmental impacts is required to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations. The evaluation will be documented in the form of a Watershed Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (Plan-EIS). A preliminary draft Watershed Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (Plan-EIS) is currently being reviewed by NRCS and the Cooperating Agencies, which include BLM, BOR, EPA, and USACE (April 2025).