OREM, Utah — The Trump administration is proposing a jaw-dropping $609 million cut to the massive Central Utah Project, which supplies water to millions of people in northern Utah.
The Central Utah Project was specifically called out in a list of spending cuts sent from the White House to Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the chair of the Senate appropriations committee.
"The Budget provides $1.2 billion for the Bureau of Reclamation and the Central Utah Project. The Budget reduces funding for programs that have nothing to do with building and maintaining water infrastructure, such as habitat restoration. Instead, the Budget focuses Reclamation and the Central Utah Project on their core missions of maintaining assets that provide safe, reliable, and efficient management of water resources throughout the western United States," the reduction item says.
It is the only proposed spending cut that specifically calls out Utah.
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The funding reduction request, shared with FOX 13 News, has sparked some concern among water managers and alarm from environmentalists. The Central Utah Project, which pulls water from the Colorado River and provides it to millions of people along the Wasatch Front, dates back to the 1950s. It is a series of reservoirs and pipelines that feed water to the more populated areas of the state.
"The Trump administration’s proposal to cut this massive level of funding could have major impacts on Utah water users and the environment," said Zach Frankel, the executive director of the Utah Rivers Council.
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What exactly could be on the chopping block is still a mystery. The budget for the Central Utah Project is not $1.2 billion. A U.S. Department of Interior publication in 2022 said $20 million was being spent for ongoing work on a Utah Lake drainage system and some fish and wildlife conservation measures. Most of the project itself has been completed for years now, with a lone piece near Spanish Fork still being worked on.
The Central Utah Water Conservancy District, one of the biggest players in the Central Utah Project, declined to comment to FOX 13 News until it had more specifics on the budget reduction proposed by the White House. Salt Lake City Public Utilities, which also participates, also said it wanted to see more of what specifically would be impacted.
Utah political leaders FOX 13 News reached out to also declined to comment, adopting a wait-and-see approach. A president can propose a budget, but it is Congress that will actually pass one. Through negotiations and involvement from Utah's congressional delegation, the project could see something not as deep or no cuts at all.
It is possible that the words "habitat restoration" is what put the project in front of the Trump administration, which has been proposing deep federal spending reductions through Elon Musk's "Department of Government Efficiency." Frankel, who said he also has no clear knowledge of what would be cut, told FOX 13 News that the Utah Rivers Council opposes any funding cuts.
"Efforts to protect and restore our environment from past damage constructed by the Central Utah Project could be unfunded moving forward. That’s a big problem for rural Utah economies that are dependent on tourism and recreation revenues for local jobs," he said.
In addition to environmental work, Frankel said everyday Utahns could feel it if infrastructure projects are unfunded.
"What this drop in funding could translate into one day is future water rate increases by local water users who will have to pay a larger portion to make up for these lost revenues," he said.
This article is published through the Colorado River Collaborative, a solutions journalism initiative supported by the Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water, and Air at Utah State University. See all of our stories about how Utahns are impacted by the Colorado River at greatsaltlakenews.org/coloradoriver
