Fast growing Cedar City UT wants to build a pipeline 66 miles long to pump enormous amounts of water from Pine Valley where Paiutes own the water rights. The city has not even consulted or met with Paiutes about this. Gosh. Welcome to the always ongoing water wars of the American West.
Happily, multiple activist groups like the small but mighty Great Basin Water Network are working to block this hideous idea. They are a fine example of “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Also in the fight is the Center for Biological Diversity. Both groups have won major victories.
Diverting that much water from those aquifers would dry up multiple regions in the area reaching as far as the Great Basin in Nevada to the west. The image here is of Great Basin National Park, large mountains in the middle of a huge, baking desert. Multiple counties in UT have written to Cedar City expressing concern about this ill-though-out, very expensive plan.
Cedar currently enjoys very low water rates. This pipeline, by their own reckoning, would at least triple water prices. There are other, less expensive options too! A local group of conservatives at Iron County Water says, set prices to the free market, convert surplus agricultural water, install meters on secondary water users, and reuse water.
These wastewater treatment plant improvements would cost $21 million and the water savings amount to $10,500 per acre-foot. By comparison the Pine Valley Project would cost $260 million and deliver 15,000 acre-feet of water, at a rate of $17,300 per acre-foot. That makes the Pine Valley Project water nearly 70% more expensive than water from the reuse alternative.
Make your voice heard. Tell BLM to not approve the project. Comments on the Final Environmental Impact Statement are due by December 23, 2025.
The proposed pipeline will hurt communities like Milford, Beaver, and Baker. Additionally, it could harm places like Great Basin National Park, Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge, the Great Salt Lake, and sacred tribal sites.
Act now. Get the work out Stop the Cedar City pipeline water grab.