US House passes Curtis’ Great Salt Lake Stewardship act

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill sponsored by Utah Republican Rep. John Curtis on Tuesday that includes the Great Salt Lake in the federal government’s Colorado River water conservation plan, possibly freeing up federal funds to help the Beehive State’s beleaguered saline lake.

The Great Salt Lake Stewardship Act tweaks the Central Utah Project Completion Act, which takes water from the Colorado River basin in eastern Utah, and through a system of reservoirs, rivers and pipelines, diverts it to the Wasatch Front where it’s used for municipal and industrial use. The project is described by the Department of Interior as Utah’s “largest and most comprehensive federal water resource development project.”