Reservoir expected to spur Kanab growth
- Water » Earthen dam will create a lake with recreation potential.
By Mark Havnes
The Salt Lake Tribune
Kanab » The southern Utah town of Kanab, known for its red sandstone cliffs and mesas is getting a lake.
About 200 residents and dignitaries gathered Friday at a ranch house in the city's outskirts and broke ground on an earthen dam that will create the Jackson Flat Reservoir.
The dam will create a reservoir that should take two years to fill and cover 232 acres.
Earth moving equipment is already in place to start work on the earthen dam to form the Jackson Flat Reservoir in Kanab ground was broken for Friday. Completion is schedulded for April 2011. (Mark Havnes / The Salt Lake Tribune)
"This is a historic day in Kanab," said Mike Noel, manager of the Kane County Water Conservancy District and a Republican state representative, who was joined at the event by Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, and Utah Gov. Gary Herbert.
The conservancy district has been working for nearly a decade on the $12 million project, being built so farmers, ranchers and some residents will have adequate irrigation water year-round.
Water for the reservoir will be diverted from Kanab Creek and is owned by the conservancy district and Kanab Irrigation Co. The water currently is being piped into sprinkler systems that run low in summer months.
The water to be stored should allow other entities like the city or county to lease some water for parks, the cemetery, school grounds and golf course. Using the irrigation water will boost the amounts of available culinary water now being used for watering.
Noel said the water system will not rely on just gravity, but be pressurized to provide quantity and consistency all year. He also said there will likely be a recreation component to the reservoir that will allow boating and fishing. Recreation projects will be discussed by a citizens' group to decide what should be offered, he said.
Bennett told the audience that southern Utah water concerns often are secondary to those of northern Utah, but the new reservoir should help with growth in Kane County. Bennett helped bring more than $5 million to the project.
Herbert said in an arid state like Utah it is important to develop water responsibly. "If we do it right, then the desert will bloom," he said.
The water will allow growth in the area whose natural wonders already attract large numbers of people, he said.
He described the effort to build the reservoir as a model of what can be accomplished through cooperation of entities.
Kathy Pace, a 17-year resident of Kanab who attended Friday's event, said she was excited about having a body of fresh water in town.
Pace said she was thinking about moving to St. George because of the recreation opportunities offered by Sand Hollow Reservoir, but not any more.
"I'm a swimmer, and the recreational benefits here are going to be great now," she said.
mhavnes@sltrib.com
Jackson Flat Reservoir
Funding » The $12 million project is being paid for by Kane County Water Conservancy District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Utah State Division of Water Resources.
Size » 232 acres; to hold 4,228 acre feet of water and be fed by a pipeline from Kanab Creek.
Dam size » Earthen dam will have maximum height of 45 feet, and stretch 4,430 feet. It is planned to be complete April 19, 2011.
Use » For irrigation by members of Kanab irrigation Co., some county residents and governments who can lease water for watering public grounds.
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it's always nice to see St. George and the surrounding area. The downtown is so quaint, but then you also have to realize St. George had very little population until just recently so it never made that large a historic core. The 'colonial' type of architecture they keep using is getting old as well but I think that will change. 
I think that commoners like me can forget about ever being allowed to see the place in person. Their own website doesn't even provide an address or phone number. It is so exclusive that you have to register with them to get any information at all.
I still can't get over just how small this airport is. Don't get me wrong it's a nice looking building. I'm sure it's design for additions once the demand grows. 
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