The Bureau of Reclamation announced on Wednesday that the Steinaker Dam modification project has been awarded to Weeminuche Construction Authority of Towaoc, Colorado, which is owned by the Ute Mountain Tribe. As a water source for Vernal and Jensen, operations have been restricted at Steinaker dam since 2014 when a slope failure was observed. Once work is completed on the modification project, the Bureau of Reclamation believes the reservoir and dam will return to full and normal operations. The work being done includes extending the existing concrete conduit with a steel-lined, concrete encased conduit upstream; constructing a new cast-in-place concrete intake structure; and reconstruction of the embankment, including flattening the adjacent upstream slope. “Construction will begin this fall and will continue weather permitting into the winter,” shares Gawain Snow of the Uintah Water Conservancy District. “Construction will resume again Spring of 2019. There will be no water in Steinaker Reservoir for the summer of 2019. The reservoir will be re-filled beginning of Fall 2019 after the dam modification has been completed.” Snow also stated that the project cost of $17.68 million dollars is less than was originally anticipated.
