I love to fish. My wife and I like trolling in a small aluminum boat (she drives and I fish) on the lakes and reservoirs high in the mountains above the towns and irrigated farms and ranches of western Emery County.
Each year increasing numbers of people, many from the Wasatch Front and beyond, enjoy all types of water sports on our local lakes. A closer look, however, reveals these lakes, almost without exception, to be man-made reservoirs.Many of our city friends and visiting recreationists might be surprised to learn that the people who built these reservoirs are the hard working people of Emery County. They live on farms and ranches and in our small communities. They, and those who came before, realized the need for water storage for irrigation, flood control and culinary purposes.
The time, labor and much of the money to complete these projects and mandated maintenance tasks came from small cooperative groups of local people, mostly farmers. Most of them are still paying off, and will continue to do so for many years, their individual portions of the cost of these reservoir projects.
Whether we fish, water ski, irrigate a crop, wash the car or just want a drink of water, we owe much thanks to those individuals and groups whose time, energy and money have made all these activities possible. We are asking those who hold public office and, especially, those in the nonelected bureaucracies to keep in mind the needs of those of us who own the water rights, have built and continue to maintain the reservoirs and whose livelihoods greatly depend on these reservoirs and water systems.
Richard P. Snowball
Elmo