Starvation Collection System

The Starvation Collection System is a component of the Central Utah Project that develops water within the Uinta Basin of eastern Utah for irrigation and municipal use, as well as providing flood control, recreation, and fish and wildlife benefits.

Primary features of the Starvation Collection System are Starvation Reservoir, Knight Diversion Dam, and the Starvation Feeder Conduit. Starvation Dam and Reservoir were constructed on the Strawberry River approximately three miles upstream from the town of Duchesne, Utah in 1970. Starvation Dam is a rolled earth-fill structure 155 feet high and 2,920 feet long at the crest. Starvation Reservoir with a 167,310 acre-foot storage capacity captures and stores the surplus winter and spring flows of the Duchesne and Strawberry rivers. At full pool, the reservoir covers about 689 surface acres. Storage of water in Starvation Reservoir began in November 1969. Maximum reservoir content is usually reached during the summer and early fall months.

Starvation Collection System Map

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Map of the Starvation Collection System of the Bonneville Unit
Starvation Collection System

 

Duchesne River flows are diverted to Starvation Reservoir by the Knight Diversion Dam on the Duchesne River located approximately five miles upstream from Duchesne, Utah. Knight Diversion Dam, completed in 1968, is an earthfilled dike capable of diverting up to 300 cubic feet per second of flows into the reservoir via the Starvation Feeder Conduit. The conduit consists of nearly one mile of pipeline and the mile-long Starvation Tunnel. 

Water is released from Starvation Reservoir, as needed, to supplement existing irrigation supplies, particularly late season supplies, in the Duchesne River area and to replace water diverted from the Uinta Basin to the Bonneville Basin by the Strawberry Aqueduct and Collection System. The towns of Duchesne and East Duchesne deliver a small amount of municipal and industrial water from the system to serve residential needs as well.

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