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Central Utah Water Conservancy District and its partners prepare to insert the final pipe of the Spanish Fork Santaquin Pipeline Sept. 10, 2025, in Santaquin.

Courtesy Central Utah Water Conservancy District

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A man signs his name on the final pipe of the Spanish Fork Santaquin Pipeline Sept. 10, 2025, in Santaquin.

Courtesy Central Utah Water Conservancy District

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The final pipe of the Spanish Fork Santaquin Pipeline is shown Sept. 10, 2025, in Santaquin.

Courtesy Central Utah Water Conservancy District

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The Central Utah Water Conservancy District and its partners achieved a significant milestone last week in a journey to supply Utah’s water needs. 

The final 60-inch pipe of the Spanish Fork Santaquin Pipeline was placed into the ground on Sept. 10 in Santaquin, fulfilling the district’s obligations to deliver water through the Central Utah Project.

“Now we have the last piece of the puzzle to be able to deliver that water to the municipalities that have contracted for that water,” CUWCD project manager Roger Pearson said.

The finished pipeline was celebrated with a luncheon and a final installation ceremony.

“This final link marks the culmination of years of planning, partnership and hard work and the beginning of a stronger, more secure future for our state,” Gov. Spencer Cox said in a video.

Efforts began in 1956 to build upon the original Strawberry Valley Project of the early 20th century and bring more of Utah’s allotment of Colorado River water to the Wasatch Front.

The Bureau of Reclamation built large-diameter tunnels and pipelines to bring water from the Uintah Mountains — which are part of the Colorado River basin — to an enlarged Strawberry Reservoir, according to Pearson.

In 1992, the Central Utah Project Completion Act, or CUPCA, was passed by Congress, transferring the responsibility to complete the Central Utah Project from the Bureau of Reclamation to local entities.

In partnership with the Department of the Interior CUPCA office and the Utah Reclamation Mitigation Conservation Commission, or URMCC, CUWCD built a 96-inch pipe through Diamond Fork Canyon and Spanish Fork Canyon, Pearson said.

Water was then distributed across the Wasatch Front from the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon.

“There’s a 60-inch pipe that goes from there, north to the Provo River at the mouth of Provo Canyon, and that delivers water all the way to Salt Lake,” Pearson said. “And then there’s this 60-inch pipe, the Spanish Fork Santaquin Pipeline, that goes all the way to Santaquin. This pipe represents the last piece of pipe in that entire system.”

CUWCD Project Manager Jared Hansen called the Spanish Fork Santaquin Pipeline just one piece of a $3 billion to $4 billion “machine” of water infrastructure that is the Central Utah Project, which includes eight dams and reservoirs.

The entire system, he said, includes 100 miles of pipeline ranging from 60 to 120 inches in diameter. CUWCD delivers 162,000 acre-feet of water out of Strawberry Reservoir annually.

“I feel like Central Utah Water is laying the foundation for the next 100 years of civilization along the Wasatch Front, specifically southern Utah County,” Hansen said. “And it’s something we just relish.”

Finishing the southern Utah County pipeline is an accomplishment, but not the end of CUWCD’s efforts to distribute water throughout the region as population and water demand continue to grow.

Future endeavors include the Nebo Regional Water Project.

“As we continue to help plan regionally for regional water infrastructure, we want to make sure the pieces are in place so that water infrastructure or water supply isn’t the reason or the limiting factor to the ability for our state to meet our needs and our demands,” Pearson said. “And so we are definitely feeling some urgency to make sure that we’re putting additional pieces in place.”