CUP’s Diamond Fork System conveys water, diverted from the Uinta Basin and stored in Strawberry Reservoir, to the Wasatch Front. It delivers water to Utah Lake for the Municipal and Industrial system water exchange and for irrigation in the Spanish Fork area and for the Strawberry Valley Project, which was constructed in the early 1900's. The Diamond Fork System receives water from Strawberry Reservoir through Syar Tunnel. The Syar Tunnel replaced a smaller and much older Strawberry Tunnel, which empties into Sixth Water Creek farther upstream. A major feature of the Diamond Fork System is to eliminate destructively high flows of water discharged from Syar Tunnel into Sixth Water, and subsequently Diamond Fork Creek, by conveying most of the water through the newly constructed Diamond Fork Pipeline and through the Upper Diamond Fork Tunnel, which the Central Utah Water Conservancy District completed in 2004. Ultimately, water flows released into Diamond Fork will be managed at levels allowing restoration of instream and riparian habitat from the outlet of the old Strawberry Tunnel down to the Spanish Fork River.

In addition to Diamond Fork and Sixth Water aquatic and riparian habitat restoration, the Commission is responsible for implementing mitigation commitments identified in Diamond Fork System environmental decision documents issued in 1999. A value-engineering review of those documents identified several minor modifications that would reduce environmental impacts and construction costs. The Commission, Central Utah Water Conservancy District, and Department of the Interior prepared an environmental assessment to evaluate the impacts of these modifications.

A decision was made in August 2000 to adopt the environmental assessment’s proposed modifications. The Commission’s environmental commitments include monitoring Ute-ladies’ tresses after completing Diamond Fork System construction. [You may click here to download the Diamond Fork and Sixth Water Creeks Riparian Vegetation and Ute Ladies'-tresses 2006 Monitoring Report (pdf 4.6MB) Click here to download the final 2007 Monitoring Report (pdf 5MB)]. Environmental committments further consist of supporting development and implementation of the June Sucker Recovery Implementation Program and monitoring stream channel responses to altered flow regimes following completion of the revised Diamond Fork water delivery system. In 2006, a draft Geomorphic and Macroinvertebrate Monitoring Report for Diamond Fork and Sixth Water Creeks was prepared which documents the results of the first 2 years of monitoring for the initial 3-year program. [Click here to download the draft Report (pdf 8,308)] [Click here to download the appendices (pdf 7,234)]