During the Price City Council meeting hosted on Wednesday evening, council members discussed the possible approval of two separate amendments.
The first amendment was the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) grant amendment. The current agreement is for the Upper Price River Plan EIS. The amendment would include the addition of piping approximately 50 miles of local irrigation canals.
Price City Public Works Director Miles Nelson explained that the amendment includes an additional $964,318 in funding and extends the end date an additional 12 months to May 2024. He is excited to expand the study and include the canals.
The next amendment was the Upper Price River Watershed Plan EIS consultant contract. This would amend the existing contract with Horrocks Engineers to provide for the expansion of the plan to include the piping of the aforementioned 50 miles of existing irrigation canals.
The engineers began with the reservoir and are now doing the piping. Mayor Mike Kourianos explained that, due to circumstances such as the two years of drought, he and Nelson took all of the agencies around to the proposed sites and also visited Scofield.
That is when the request of piping the canals, ditches and water systems arose, due to the evaporation and saturation loss being significant. According to the mayor, the piping involved will assist in minimizing the water usage from saturation.
Following these discussion and explanations, the council approved both of the amendments.