The Oct. 6 flood also destroyed 2,700 feet of canal in Hanksville, a tiny agricultural community in southeastern Utah that is home to 250 people and four times that many cattle.

Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, said at a news conference in Loa that the irrigation system needs restoration as much as communities devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

"This is a tiny town," he said. "But its livelihood depends on the dam. It's just as necessary here as it is to people in need on the Mississippi Delta."

Bennett met with local officials at the Wayne County Courthouse to review plans to rehabilitate the water delivery system with a grant from the Department of Agriculture's Federal Emergency Watershed Protection Agency.

The reconstruction will address potential flooding threats that existed prior to the flood along the Fremont River, said Sylvia Gillen, state conservationist for the Federal Natural Resources Conservation Service. It cannot be used to build more extensive dam protection than what existed before the emergency.

"The law requires that we only go to that point," said Gillen.

Teams from the conservation agency are putting together three alternatives to rebuild the irrigation system. They are required by federal law to evaluate impacts on natural resources, cultural resources and socio-economic effects.

The teams will consult with state and federal agencies to insure that all work complies with federal and state regulations. For example, any endangered species of fish would have to be accommodated, Gillen said. The three alternatives will be submitted to the Wayne County Commission for approval.

Bennett praised federal workers for their swift response to the disaster and defended his decision to quickly earmark federal funds to help Hanksville.

"While others may call this pork, I am proud to put my name beside it," he said.

Construction on the dam is expected to begin next fall. Hanksville Mayor Stanley Alvey said farmers will have to ride out this season without water.

"I believe we can do it," he said. "But we can only go one season."

Farmers and ranchers will have to individually ask lenders to delay loans, apply for federal disaster assistance or make do any way they can. It's highly unlikely there will be any interim project that can pump water through the canals, said Kevin Hatch, vice president of the Hanksville Canal Co.