Drill rig testing reservoir site

A drill rig is drilling test holes four miles northwest of Monticello to test the suitability of a site in Clay Draw for a reservoir.

If constructed, the proposed reservoir may hold from 3,000 to 12,000 acre feet of water. By comparison, the capacity of Loyds Lake is 3,625 acre feet and Recapture Reservoir can hold up to 8,400 acre feet of water.

San Juan County Commissioner Bruce Adams said that the proposed reservoir would hold water from the North Creek and Spring Creek drainages. At the current time, irrigators hold North Creek water in Gordon’s Reservoir, while there is no reservoir for Spring Creek water.

Adams adds that water from the reservoir could be gravity-fed to the water treatment plant in Monticello.

Depending on the drill results, the next step may be to assemble a host of local, state and federal groups to secure funding for the reservoir.

Interested parties may include local irrigators, the San Juan County Water Conservency District, the City of Monticello, San Juan County, Utah Department of Water Rights, Bureau of Reclamation, BLM, Forest Service, and Division of Wildlife Resources.