Trouble sending waves over water in Tropic Reservoir
Garfield County officials say they're tired of the negotiations and are prepared to take the matter to court.
'This is insanity,' said Garfield County Commissioner Leland Pollock. 'It is going to be a fight now. These are good people who don't want to fight Otter Creek (Reservoir Company) and they don't want to fight the state engineer.'
The engineer's office says a lapsed agreement originally etched on a napkin — or perhaps a paper bag — in 1961 led to a tough dispute that has been playing out for 15 years, and negotiations continue in what has turned into a touchy and sensitive situation.
As it is with water in the West, tensions can erupt into a gnarly tug of war. In this case, Pollock called for an emergency intervention by the governor at one point.
Pollock said the problem is by ordering the release of water from Tropic Reservoir, the precious resource basically gets sucked into an aquifer and never makes it to farmers who depend on it for irrigation.
'It is a special kind of stupid not being able to store water,' Pollock said.
The dam was built in 1880 and has been serving the agricultural community since then, Pollock said.
'Why do you have a dam if you can't store water,' he asked.
But Matt Mills, president and chief executive officer of the Otter Creek Reservoir Company, said people can scream about the water being released, but it is not their water to scream about.
'The water right is decreed and belongs to the 10 water companies in Otter Creek,' he said.
'The difference this year is that we are in a drought situation. It is pretty much black and white,' Mills said. 'They are trying to reach out and grab water that belongs to Otter Creek.'
A 220-plus page document called the Cox Decree adjudicates the Sevier River system, outlining surface water rights and who owns them.
The Sevier River is the longest river that begins and ends in Utah, traveling close to 400 miles.
Otter Creek Reservoir is downstream from Tropic Reservoir and receives water from the Sevier River.
Mills said dozens upon dozens of water users are hurting, including him.
'Our allotment (of water) this year on our company is half of what we had last year.'
The agreement that sparked the dispute involves how much water the Otter Creek Reservoir Company can legally store in Tropic Reservoir during the winter months.
A formal application for the storage in dispute was filed with the state in 1977 and granted in 2005, allowing Otter Creek Reservoir Company to hold onto 3,000 acre-feet of water in Tropic between Oct. 15 and April 15.
But that agreement lapsed because 'proof of use' had not been filed with the state within the required timeframe, the state engineer's office said.
Even though it had lapsed, Otter Creek continued to hold back the 3,000 acre-feet of water as had been done for years, but now that has changed.
State Engineer Teresa Wilhelmsen said absent the agreement or an enforceable change application filed with her office, there exists a legal right to only store 540-acre feet of water in Tropic. The rest must be released.
Pollock said farms will be dry by August. This is in a region in which Gov. Spencer Cox has declared a state of emergency due to drought.
Added Tawn Mangum, president of the Tropic and East Fork Irrigation Company: 'The bottom line is there is going to be an empty reservoir ... and that's it. ... I don't know what the use of it is because they don't use the water, it just goes into the ground. It is the worst year it could be this way.'
But others point out water right holders downstream from Tropic Reservoir depend on that water— including Piute Reservoir, Sevier Bridge Reservoir (Yuba) and users in Sevier County.
The state engineer's office verified through paperwork the lapse of the agreement had not been corrected.
After consultation with both companies, they were notified that water could not be stored in Tropic during the winter months to the levels being collected. That was in 2024.
A year later, the trouble had not abated and a 'river lock' had been removed to allow collection of water in the reservoir to instead be released.
Pollock said the reservoir off Highway 12 near the 'Pines' will have only a month of storage given the constraints imposed by the state.
'Everyone in Tropic is extremely upset,' Pollock said.
Mills said every user along the Sevier River system is watching the dispute play out — and that includes people in Millard, Juab, Sanpete and Sevier counties. He echoed what Pollock said, but from other users' perspective.
'The whole river (system) is in an uproar about what Tropic is trying to do,' Mills said.
He likened it to taking Sevier River water that feeds into Yuba Reservoir, the largest privately owned reservoir in the state.
'There are no gray areas.'
Wilhelmsen and her staff have been working with both parties to reach a resolution, she said.
'We have been very diligent in trying to work with them, help them understand what is happening,' she said. 'It is just a change that has occurred. Everyone is trying to get up to speed and figure out what the new normal looks like.'
She added that her staff has been in the midst of the process to get both parties to a new level of understanding.
'We have been working with Tropic Irrigation to get measurements in place to let them know what the amounts of water (are) coming in and what is going out.'
In January of this year, division staff visited Tropic Reservoir and determined storage capacity was at 1,000 acre-feet — still beyond what is legally allowed.
A few months later, another visit by state engineer staff determined the outlet gate on the reservoir was closed and storage had bumped up to 1,500 acre-feet.
In March this year, the state engineer received an enforcement referral, alleging the illegal storage of water in Tropic Reservoir.
Wilhelmsen then issued a distribution order against the Tropic and East Fork Irrigation Company, warning of a potential lawsuit in the appropriate district court to enforce the action.
In the interim, her staff has been working on the installation of measurement, data collection and telemetry infrastructure at Tropic to get to less troubled waters in the future.
Pollock said Tropic is going to enlist the services of their own hydrologist and reiterated legal action of its own.
'This is going to court. We are not just going to give up,' he said.
Mills said if it goes to court, Tropic cannot hold onto water that does not legally belong to them.
'It would be like your neighbor coming onto your property to take water out of your well.'
Pollock said the Legislature's Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment interim committee meeting is slated to discuss the issue in June, via Rep. Carl Albrecht, R-Richfield.
It is a dire situation that will only devolve as the summer heat grips the region.
'This is a bad, bad look for the state of Utah,' Pollock said.
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