Diamond Mountain Lakes have experienced extreme management challenges over the past several years. All three lakes have experienced both summer and winter fish kills as well as severe HABs which are problematic. One of the main drivers of these problems is lack of water throughout the entire drainage. Lack of perennial flow or even seasonal movement of water causes stagnation and low DO problems. NER aquatics staff is looking for ways to better manage our water shares as well as create more sustainable fisheries on Diamond Mtn. As the water right holder for the majority of water in the Pot Creek drainage, the Division of Wildlife is required to send water from Matt Warner down to multiple water rights holders below it and Crouse Reservoir. Due to the ongoing drought, the three reservoirs on Diamond have not all been full since 2011. As a result, the water table in many areas is much lower than in the past and we see a great deal of subsurface loss upon sending this water down. The Division of Water Rights estimates that about 30% of the surface flow is lost to the ground between Matt Warner and Calder and about 50% is lost between Calder and Crouse. This surface water is extremely valuable for our three reservoir fisheries and we are therefore interested in conserving it as much as possible. We propose to do this by decreasing losses to groundwater. In addition, Crouse Reservoir has sedimented in over time and we have lost some of the old capacity. We are talking about managing the three reservoirs on Diamond like they used to decades ago and as our water right says we should (prioritizing water in Crouse). Before doing that, however, we would like to restore Crouse to its original capacity. Our ability to use Crouse Reservoir as a fishery needs to be a tool in our toolbox, and this project (mapping the lake bottom and then dredging any areas of deposition) is a first step to make that happen.

Our main goal for this project is to decrease fish kills in our reservoirs by increasing the amount of water in them. If less water is lost to the ground, there will be more for the reservoirs. More water in the reservoirs should help to contribute to more consistent fisheries that maintain dissolved oxygen levels throughout the year and therefore maintain fish that are stocked each year. In addition, if we start moving water down to Crouse and manage it according to water law, we will want to ensure maximum capacity is restored. Again, more water should equate to greater survival.

We are already seeing the impacts of low water levels in our reservoirs and in our fisheries. Calder Reservoir is extremely low; it hasn't been this low since 2002 when it was basically just a stream running through the reservoir basin. And it has been many, many years since it has been full. The water level in Matt Warner is maintaining, but has not gone up much at all with spring inflows in recent years. For now, we need to maintain water levels in Matt Warner and we need to be able to increase water levels in Calder. It does not help to have to send more water down for uses below the reservoirs than is required by the water right. Water savings will differ based on the type of water year, but it will always be about a 30% savings for water sent down from Matt Warner to Calder and a 50% savings for water sent from Calder to Crouse. For example, if we are required to send 300 acre feet (AF) from Matt Warner to Crouse Reservoir to the water right holder immediately below Crouse, we would need to send 390 AF from Matt Warner to get 300 AF into Calder. The loss from Calder is even greater so we would be required to send 450 AF from Calder to get it to Crouse. In total, we're required to move at least an extra 240 AF to meet the water right holder's need, accounting for groundwater losses.

Earlier in 2022, SWCA finished the Pot Creek watershed plan. This document was put together with input from the Forest Service, Division of Wildlife, State Trust Lands, UT Department of Agriculture, Trout Unlimited, Uintah County, private landowners, grazers, Division of Water Quality, Bureau of Land Management, NRCS, and the UT Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office. The main goals of this plan were to 1. promote a watershed scale approach to water quality protection and improvement and 2. improve conditions in the watershed to benefit present and future generations. This effort, in the long run, once we get to implementation, will contribute to both of those goals. In addition, UDWR staff are working on a revised management plan for Diamond Mountain Lakes this winter. The Crouse Reservoir work will be one of many actions that will have to happen if we decide to move one of the other fisheries to Crouse. And if we do decide to do that, it will be even more important to minimize water loss to the creekbed during delivery.

This project will not impact fire or fuels; however, holding more water in the reservoirs would allow fire crews to use these reservoirs as a source of water if needed to fight a fire in the area.

This project will increase surface water quantity contained in all three reservoirs on Diamond Mountain by 1. decreasing losses to groundwater between the reservoirs, and 2. contributing information that will help us restore water capacity in Crouse Reservoir. In addition, with more water in the reservoirs, phosphorus levels would be diluted some and algae blooms/vegetative growth might be decreased, meaning that fish kills should occur less frequently.

At this stage, no compliance work is required. As we move to the next phase of each project, compliance will likely be required and will be tackled at that time. Because compliance will differ based on the results of FY24 work, it makes sense to wait until we have more information before proceeding.

In FY24, we will hire an engineering firm to provide a 60% plan for piping or lining the creek. They'll compare costs between the two options and once we have reviewed the estimates and chosen an option, we will pay the engineering firm to submit funding proposals to NRCS and the BOR for WaterSMART and other water infrastructure projects. Once we have funding identified, we will work towards compliance. All compliance tasks will be completed before we proceed to implementation. For the Crouse Reservoir aspect of the work, we will: 1) Obtain bids and hire a land survey company to survey Crouse reservoir lake bed and provide us with an updated bathymetric map as well as actual storage capacity in acre feet; 2) work with Water Rights to create an updated fish habitat enhancement plan for Crouse Reservoir.

Every year, the Pot Creek water users meet in February and our water commissioner reports on releases from each of the reservoirs. After implementation of this project, we should see a decrease in the releases between each of the three reservoirs. The amount of savings each year will be documented. No monitoring will be done for the Crouse Reservoir work until Crouse is refilled and used as a fishery.

We plan to partner with the Uintah Conservation District on this project as they have spent a great deal of time and funding to improve conditions on Diamond Mountain already and are therefore heavily invested in this area. In addition, Trout Unlimited will be involved as they are extremely interested in conserving water on Diamond for our trout fisheries.

In the future, we may change water management to maintain water levels in Crouse and Calder over Matt Warner. This is more in line with our water right (Crouse is our most senior right) and it could ensure better water levels as these are the two smaller reservoirs. We have installed a SolarBee water circulator in Calder and if it works as intended (to help Calder fish survive the winter), we may install more in Matt Warner or Crouse. We are also stocking fewer trout each and and we are stocking triploid grass carp to help cycle nutrients though the system and tie phosphorus up in fish biomass instead of vegetation biomass.

Regardless of whether we line or pipe the water, we plan to provide access to wildlife to continue to get to water. To do this, we will identify game trails leading down to Pot Creek in the project area and ensure that we either provide off-pipe troughs at many of these locations or a more manageable slope down into the lined creek so that elk, deer, and sage grouse can still get water from the creek while it is flowing (which is only when we send water down at this point in time -- Pot Creek is no longer a perennial creek due to the ongoing drought). In addition, we will be working towards a more effective and efficient way to utilize our water rights in dry periods. Water is this system is critical and everything we can do to minimize loss during delivery to shareholders is critical.

07/03/2023

06/28/2024

2024

We developed an agreement with TU and TU took the lead on this project. TU worked with Sunrise Engineering to review the options and provide a recommendation regarding which potential water saving measure would be best to pursue. The next phase will be an engineering design and submission of the design and project proposal to BOR WaterSmart or similar federal grant meant to help implement non-federal water saving measures. Water efficiency projects are far too expensive for solely DWR or TU to cover; however, our efforts can be coupled with federal funding to get things done on the ground.

Pot Creek is located on Diamond Mountain, flows into Colorado, and then enters the Green River. The creek used to be perennial, but isn't any longer and is instead only used when water is being delivered between the three DWR reservoirs (Matt Warner, Crouse and Calder) or to water rights holders on the mountain. Pot Creek is subject to a large amount of water loss, costing water users and our fisheries millions of gallons of water each year due to water infiltration in the dry creek bed. The UDWR has partnered with Trout Unlimited to provide an engineered cost estimate for alternative ways of water conveyance to prevent water loss in the future. The final report was submitted by Sunrise Engineering at the end of fiscal 2024. Sunrise Engineering was selected as no other firm could commit to the limited timeframe before funding expired. Sunrise Engineering was selected in November 2023, However due to inaccessibility from snowfall, work started in the spring. After consultations with both TU and UDWR, Sunrise Engineering conducted a site visit once spring flows declined. They reviewed piping and lining Pot Creek between the two reservoirs as their main options. Alongside their site visit, the piping option was evaluated using expected seasonal flow requirements, elevation data, and wildlife/livestock usage. During discussions, it was expressed that normal functions of the reservoir should not be interfered with and all existing infrastructure should remain in tact and unaltered. Sunrise Engineering has provided a cost estimate for each option, piping the creek seems to be the most efficient and would result in the most water savings. It is the more expensive option, however due to wildlife and potential livestock use, a creek bed liner could be prematurely compromised from animals walking in the creek bed as well as large flooding events that result in water spilling over the liner capacity.

Next steps will be to obtain funding for an engineered plan of the pipeline, along with funding for the project. Funding sources include WaterSMART, WRI, and BIL funding sources. Key partners will include Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Utah Division of Water Quality, and Utah Division of Water Rights.