64 CONSERVATION OF GROUND WATER 



stern measures are taken to prevent withdrawals except 

 under established rights. 



Cedar City Valley, Utah. 19 In Cedar City Valley in south- 

 west Utah, some wells have been pumped for irrigation 

 for more than 25 years, but development was accelerated 

 markedly during the early 1930's, particularly on the al- 

 luvial fan of the chief inflowing stream, Coal Creek. Water 

 levels in wells on this fan declined sharply as a result of this 

 increased draft during years of little recharge and by 1935 

 were 10 to 15 feet lower than in 1932. Utah's ground-water 

 law was passed in 1935, following a series of drought years 

 when not only stream supplies but recharge to ground-water 

 reservoirs throughout the state had been far below normal. 

 Soon thereafter the state engineer declared the ground water 

 of the Coal Creek alluvial fan fully appropriated and has 

 issued no permits for new irrigation wells since that time. 

 The storage in the ground-water reservoir has increased 

 somewhat from the minimum recorded in 1936. Water-level 

 trends in wells correlate rather well with annual precipita- 

 tion. Annual pumpage is of the order of 15,000 acre-feet. 



There is some loss of ground water by evapotranspira- 

 tion in the lowest parts of Cedar City Valley, chiefly derived 

 from the alluvial fans of minor tributaries. Permits have 

 been issued by the state engineer for several irrigation wells 

 to develop this unappropriated water. Some of the water 

 now lost by evapotranspiration comes from the Coal Creek 

 fan, which is so steep that present pumping lifts would need 

 to be doubled or trebled if ground water were to be pre- 

 vented from moving to present areas of evapotranspiration. 

 Thus the declaration that there is no unappropriated water 

 is based in part on the economy of the region — the value of 

 crops produced and the cost of power for pumping. The 

 ground-water users under existing conditions cannot afford 



19 Reference: Thomas, H. E., and G. H. Taylor, Geology and Ground-water 

 Resources of Cedar City and Parowan Valleys, Utah, U.S. 

 Geol. Survey Water Supply Paper 993, 1946, 210 pp. 



