Provo River "Delta" update: rebuilt diversion, aeration systems and riverfront park work continue

Mike Mills, executive director of the Utah Reclamation, Mitigation and Conservation Commission, updated the Provo City Council work session on May 6 about remaining work on the Provo River original channel and the Delta restoration project.

Mills said the project team rebuilt a diversion structure intended to supply a minimum of 10 cubic feet per second (CFS) to the remaining channel; the new structure offers a wider opening that Mills said will be easier to maintain at both low and high flows. "We would be sending everything out to the Delta" under high lake conditions, Mills said, describing the plan to divert flows to the restored Delta when Utah Lake elevations make the original channel impractical to manage.

Mills described water-quality work including aeration systems installed in 2023 and extended downstream to improve dissolved-oxygen levels during warm months. He said aeration now reaches from the Center Street bridge area downstream to Utah Lake State Park and upstream to…