Orem • Allen Christensen’s family has been farming near American Fork since Utah’s pioneer days.

“We’ve had plenty of opportunity to sell it for development,” Christensen said. “But we have kept it in agricultural production.”

Now, he fears, that legacy is under attack. He worries that the Central Utah Water Conservancy District’s plans to put a water pipeline through his and his brother’s property would ruin the land for farming, possibly for generations.

Water district officials say they have no choice, because going through the Christensens’ property is the only cost-effective option. And they say they would do their best to minimize any adverse effects the trenching may have.

“We have done this before, and we are capable of doing it again,” said K.C. Shaw, the district’s project manager.

Shaw and Chris Finlinson, the district’s governmental affairs director, say the Christensens are asking for more money for an easement than their neighbors, a demand they say they cannot meet in fairness to others.

The Utah County Commission will decide Tuesday whether to condemn the Christensens’ property, which lies in an agricultural protection zone.

The so-called North Shore Aqueduct project began in 2005, when the district acquired rights to Geneva Steel’s wells during bankruptcy. That, combined with other water rights it purchased, gave the district 53,312 acre-feet of water it could distribute, enough to fill almost 26,160 Olympic-size swimming pools.

Shaw said Eagle Mountain, Saratoga Springs, Lehi and the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District reported they could use it to support growing populations. Part of Jordan Valley’s water will be tapped by the National Security Agency’s data center planned near Camp Williams.

The Central Utah Water Conservancy District began building the pipeline in 2007, timing the work to coincide with the Orem 800 North, Pioneer Crossing and Mountain View Corridor projects. The only segment left to be built is from Vineyard to American Fork, which would have been installed along the Vineyard Connector.

But with the slumping economy, the Utah Department of Transportation shelved the Vineyard Connector, concentrating on the Interstate 15 reconstruction. Shaw said that forced the district to find a new route.

The new route would pass through part of Christensen’s and his brother’s property. Of the 30 landowners along that path, the Christensen and the Lamph families are the major holdouts.

Allen Christensen said putting the line through the property would render it difficult to farm for years. He said the pipe would disrupt underground water flow, leaving too much water in some areas and not enough in others.

Shaw said the water district has not promised no disruption from the project. He said the district is required by law not to have any “unreasonable adverse impact” on farming or the property. He said the district would minimize any negative effects as much as possible, as it did along Pioneer Crossing.

“We don’t want to disrupt agriculture,” Finlinson said.

Finlinson and Shaw said the district has addressed all of Christensen’s technical concerns, but cannot handle his final demand: Christensen wants three times as much as the district is offering for the easement.