Some old news, again, from the Casper Star

GREEN RIVER -- The Green River Basin in western Wyoming is one of the few areas left in Wyoming that has water to develop and land needed to build dams and reservoirs.

Water officials believe more storage is needed, particularly for irrigators in the basin and for towns and communities including Pinedale, Big Piney and Boulder that are growing due to the natural gas boom.

The state has been searching for decades, however, for just the right spot to build a dam across the Upper Green River.

One site often mentioned sits between the Warren and Kendall bridges in Sublette County north of Pinedale, about 60 miles south of Jackson, according to Wyoming Water Development Commission officials.

The WWDC presented a report to the Legislature's Select Water Committee in September that looked at the pros and cons of building what is known as the Kendall dam.

The commission will decide whether to hold a public hearing on that report when the WWDC meets during a workshop in Casper on Wednesday. The meeting begins at 1:30 p.m. at the Wyoming Game and Fish Department regional office.

WWDC Director Mike Purcell stressed on Monday that no decision on the construction of any dam has been made. He said the decision on whether to hold the public hearing will be made at the commission's discretion.

Purcell said there have been two reservoir sites identified upstream of Warren Bridge where the river crosses U.S. Highway 191 and below the Green River Lakes. He said the state evaluated the sites during initial studies back in the 1970s.

"We have some commissioners who are interested in those sites," Purcell said.

"So the purpose of our workshop discussion is to find out how much interest there is among the commission and if there is (sufficient interest), then we should schedule some public hearings in the area to see what other people think," he said. "We are looking throughout the basin to see if we can develop a portfolio of reservoir projects that we are comfortable with and think that could be constructed."

Past reports have shown that damming the river could provide irrigation water for about 71,000 acres and provide much-needed water during times of drought.

But the most recent WWDC report said it would take lots of time, money and a hard-to-get federal construction permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to complete the Kendall dam and reservoir project. "It explains the hurdles that would have to be overcome to pursue the project," Purcell said.

Cost projections have run as high as $250 million to $400 million for the project. "Let's just say (these projects) are expensive," Purcell said.

One site of several

In 2005, commission members and members of the Legislature's Select Water Committee toured the Upper Green River Basin as part of the hunt for possible dam sites. The state has identified three lower basin sites -- Sand Hill, McNish Wash and Church reservoir -- that have the most potential for a dam and reservoir.

But the agency is also considering several other sites higher up -- such as the Kendall and Warren bridges sites -- in the basin in the foothills of the western slope of the Wind River Mountains.

"We are basically in the process of evaluating the feasibility of some smaller reservoirs on the tributaries of the Green River. This particular project would be on the main stem of the Green River, however," he said. "We're in the process of developing a plan that's acceptable to the commission and the public ... and this would be one component of that."

Wyoming has rights to water in the Green River, but has not exercised them.

The state generates about 18 million acre feet of surface water each year. An acre foot is the amount of water needed to cover one acre of land one foot deep, or about 325,851 gallons.

Under various interstate river compacts and court decrees, Wyoming is entitled to consume about 4 million of those acre feet. Right now, the state uses about 2.8 million, leaving some 1.2 million acre feet of water available in areas such as the Upper Green River Basin.

Southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino can be reached at 307-875-5359 or at gearino@tribcsp.com.