Electric Lake is a large
reservoir
A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation.
Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...
on
Huntington Creek high on the east slope of the
Wasatch Plateau in
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
. The reservoir was created in 1974 by the construction of an
earth-fill dam
An embankment dam is a large artificial dam. It is typically created by the placement and compaction of a complex semi-plastic mound of various compositions of soil or rock. It has a semi-pervious waterproof natural covering for its surface and ...
. The shoreline is primarily owned by
Utah Power and Light (UP&L) and the Huntington-Cleveland Irrigation Company. Access is limited but the northern end of the reservoir is adjacent to the national forest and access is unrestricted at that point.
Uses
Water is consumed for irrigation and power plant cooling, but also used for recreation and coldwater aquatic habitat. Enough water is stored to provide cooling water for a four-year
drought
A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
, so water levels remain deep throughout most summers. This greatly enhances recreational use. Electric Lake is accessible from U-31 and U-264. U-31 follows the south shore for about 0.5 miles near the dam (21 miles east of
Fairview City and 27 miles northwest of
Huntington), but there is no boat ramp at this access. U-264 follows the north shore for 1/2 mile (6 miles east of junction U-31 and 9 miles west of junction U-96). There are latrines and a concrete boat ramp at this site. Both highways are maintained year-round, making the area popular for winter recreation.
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Electric, Lake
Reservoirs in Utah
Lakes of Emery County, Utah