The White House wants to cut funding for the project that delivers Colorado River water to millions on the Wasatch Front — but no one will say what those cuts would entail.
Tucked 28 pages into President Donald Trump’s budget recommendations for next year, released May 2, was a proposed cut to the budget that funds the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the Central Utah Project to the tune of $609 million. Congress must approve the final budget."
The Central Utah Project is “the largest and most complex water resources development project” in the state, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The project is a complicated system of reservoirs and pipelines that bring water from the Colorado River system to the Wasatch Front for irrigation, municipal and industrial uses, supporting the region’s rapid growth. It also provides opportunities for recreation, water conservation and fish and wildlife protection.
“The budget reduces funding for programs that have nothing to do with building and maintaining water infrastructure, such as habitat restoration,” Trump’s budget brief reads. “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.”
Zach Frankel, executive director of the environmental nonprofit Utah Rivers Council, said the proposed cuts were surprising and confusing.
Frankel said it’s unclear exactly what programs would be cut within the project. The Trump administration “can claim that [the cuts are] about making government more efficient, but the truth is they don’t have any idea how to separate essential services from non-essential cuts,” he added.
Given the budget language, Frankel said he believes the potential cuts could endanger projects to restore the Provo River delta and protect the endangered June sucker, a fish native to Utah Lake and the Provo River. Both state and federal dollars fund those projects.
The cuts could even impact the Great Salt Lake, Frankel said.
When he represented Utah’s 3rd district in the House of Representatives, now-Sen. John Curtis introduced legislation to allow the Central Utah Project Completion Act — the 1992 law that authorized the Central Utah Water Conservancy District to finish the project — to include “expenditures for the conduct of certain water conservation measures in the Great Salt Lake basin.” The bill became law in December.
“This cut in funding would presumably impact those Great Salt Lake water conservation efforts,” Frankel said, “which is not good news for any Utahn.”
Gene Shawcroft, general manager for the Central Utah Water Conservancy District, declined to comment on the proposed cuts through a spokesperson. And Paul Christensen, program director for the Central Utah Project Completion Act Office in Provo, said “with the President’s full budget proposal still pending, Interior will not be commenting on the President’s proposed budget framework at this time.”
The proposed cuts to the Central Utah Project came after Republican Gov. Spencer Cox declared a state of emergency due to drought in over half of Utah’s counties for the first time since 2022. Runoff from the Colorado River into Lake Powell, too, is forecast to be the lowest in years due to dry conditions, climate change and chronic water overuse across the West.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on what specific programs would be affected by the proposed cuts. A spokesperson for Cox did not respond to questions about the cuts or what portions of the Central Utah Project are funded by the state.
Members of Utah’s all-GOP congressional delegation, meanwhile, had few answers.
Reps. Blake Moore, Celeste Maloy and Burgess Owens did not respond to questions about whether they agree with the cuts or if they were concerned the proposed cuts could endanger water access for Utahns.
Spokespeople for Rep. Mike Kennedy and Sens. Mike Lee and Curtis did not offer specifics, though a spokesperson for Lee noted that the senator has heard concerns from Utahns about the proposed cuts.
“Senator Lee is aware of the administration’s budget proposal and is tracking concerns Utahns have raised, particularly about the Central Utah Project,” Lee’s communications director Billy Gribbin said in a statement to The Tribune. “This is an early step in a lengthy budget process, but Senator Lee is fully engaged with Utah’s water needs and is working closely with the Department of the Interior to ensure they are clearly understood.”
A spokesperson for Curtis also noted that the budget was merely a nonbinding proposal. “Congress holds the power of the purse,” his office said in a statement to The Tribune.
“Senator Curtis will continue to advocate for the projects Utahns rely on — especially those critical to our water future,” the spokesperson said. “Curtis will work with his colleagues in Congress to make the funding decisions.”
Kennedy, meanwhile, praised the work of the Central Utah Project Completion Act Office, a state and federal partnership overseeing the water project, saying the office “plays a vital role in ensuring the effective operation of our great state,” but had no answers on specific possible cuts.
“Utah has long served as a model for the nation — demonstrating fiscal responsibility through balanced budgets and strategic stewardship of taxpayer dollars,” the 3rd district congressman said in a statement. “I am committed to continue to advocate for Utah’s critical water infrastructure.”
Note to readers • This story has been updated to clarify the proposed budget cuts.
