According to Zach Frankel, executive director of the Utah Rivers Council, “ We were supposed to run out of water 20 years ago.” We still do not know how much water Utah needs. According to the 2015 water audit, the data that stated how much water Utah really needs was classified as insufficient data. (http://utahrivers.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Bear-River-Alternatives.
pdf) These two statements show us how little data we have in order for the Bear River Project to take place. One cannot predict the future of how much water we really need in 2033 if we don’t have the actual data on how much water we need today. The construction costs on the Bear River Project has been estimated at $1.9 billion dollars. (http://www.standard.net/Environment
/2014/09/25/Talk-of-Utah-running-out-of-water-is-scare-tactics-says-conservation-group) It will cost millions of dollars annually to operate and maintain the dam. This money will come from the taxpayers pocket. Let’s say they decide to proceed with the project and later come to a conclusion that we didn’t need this water to begin with, the taxpayers will also have to pay for the removal of the dam. The loss of the taxpayer money is at stake here, just like the different ecosystems that will be lost if we decide to proceed with this project.
