Water and Related Land Resources, Sevier River Basin, Utah, 1969

Excerpts from the report: The Sevier River Basin is a major landlocked drainage of the Great Basin located in south-central Utah (Map 1). It is bounded on the east and south by the Colorado River Basin, on the west by the Beaver River Basin, and on the north by the Great Salt Lake Basin. The Sevier River once terminated in prehistoric Lake Bonneville near the town of Gunnison and more recently discharged perennially into Sevier Lake. Irrigation developments since the turn of the century have depleted the river until the only water now reaching Sevier Lake is occasional flood flows, drainage effluent, and groundwater. Sevier Lake has now become an ephemeral playa of sparse salt-tolerant vegetation and evaporation basins which consume the remains of the River system. The Basin contains 5,200,000 acres and includes portions of Garfield, Iron, Juab, Kane, Millard, Piute, Sanpete, Sevier, and Tooele Counties. Fifty percent of the area is mountainous and yields most of the water for irrigation. The irrigated crop and wetland areas represent about 10 percent. On the remaining valley and desert rangeland, precipitation either evaporates or is consumptively used by vegetation. The purpose of this report is to present information on water and related land resources in the Sevier River Basin, Utah. The report identifies and recommends solutions for problems concerning the conservation and use of water and land within the Basin, and emphasizes opportunities for the development of these resources through the initiative of local sponsors. It also provides information to plan programs of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, other Federal agencies, and the State of Utah, and provides a basis for more effective coordination between these agencies. Although land resources were studied, they were examined primarily as they relate to water, and this study focuses on water resources and analyzes their importance to the economic development of the Sevier River Basin.