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With just two weeks to go in the 2024 Legislative Session, lawmakers closed out “Water Week” on Feb. 16 with a number of bills either headed to the governor’s desk or getting close.
From overhauling how mineral companies conduct business on the Great Salt Lake to a new commission tasked with determining Utah’s future water needs, here are some water bills flowing through the legislature this year.
Senate Bill (SB) 211, Generational Water Infrastructure Amendments, is one of the few bills sponsored this session by Senate President Stuart Adams (R-Layton), who wants to look 50 to 75 years into the future to determine Utah’s water needs.
The bill would create a Water Development Council made up of the state’s four largest water districts, and a governor-appointed water agent who would act as a liaison to coordinate with the council to make sure the state’s water needs are met.
Adams told reporters solving the state’s water woes will require looking beyond Utah’s borders—that could mean exploring pipelines, desalination plants, and interstate, or even international, water agreements.
“There’s opportunities that we haven’t scratched the surface of … We’re not going to solve our water issues within the geographic bounds of the state of Utah. We’ve got to look to other states, maybe even internationally,” he said during the Senate’s media availability.
“The Mississippi (River) may be a long ways away,” Adams said, but “the Continental Divide maybe could even be bridged.”
But the bill has its critics—specifically environmental groups, who worry it will be used to promote “costly fantasies,” according to the Utah Rivers Council.
And the newly formed Water Development Council would be exempt from the Open and Public Meetings Act and the Government Records Access and Management Act. It’s for that reason that the Utah Transparency Project, an effort by a coalition of different media outlets in the state, gave the bill a “Closed Door” rating.
It passed the Senate with Sen. Nate Blouin (D-Salt Lake City) casting the lone “no” vote. It now heads to the House.
House Bill (HB) 453, Great Salt Lake Revisions has been called one of the most important bills for the Great Salt Lake this session, but it’s also proved to be one of the more controversial, at least among mineral companies that operate on the lake.
Sponsored by House Majority Assistant Whip Casey Snider (R-Paradise), the bill would raise the royalty rates and severance tax for companies using the lake to extract things like magnesium, lithium, salt or brine shrimp.
It would also change the system of water rights on the lake so it’s in line with the rest of the state. The “first in time, first in right doctrine” is a core tenet of water law where each water right is recognized by a priority date. The earliest date—essentially, whoever was there first—means the most senior water right.
The only water rights in the state that don’t operate under that doctrine are on the lake. What that means, Snider explained, is that water that makes it to the lake is considered “wasted” under state statute.
“Under the current legal framework that exists for water in the Great Salt Lake, every drop is available for depletion and appropriation for mineral extraction. So all of the saving we have done in agriculture, all the saving your constituents have done on their yards … is available for extraction,” Snider said on the House floor, where the bill received unanimous approval.
The bill has yet to be voted on in the Senate.
HB280, Water Related Changes initially attempted to centralize the decision-making around water projects, and impose a tax on water users’ water bills.
It’s a complex and controversial bill—so much so that its sponsor, Snider, said he would rather get a root canal than present it to the House Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee in January.
But after pushback from the public and lawmakers, who had concerns over the potential imposed fees, the bill was held in committee and heavily amended, with the fee provisions moved to study items. As it currently stands, HB280 would establish the water infrastructure fund that Snider said creates a planning process, marking a significant change in how water infrastructure projects are funded in the state.
If passed, it would create a state Water Development Council to prioritize funding for certain projects, a process currently done by local governments.
“UDOT is a great model for that,” Snider said during a committee meeting. “As you’re moving through this process, let’s have one final decision-making body.”
SB18, Water Modifications is a continuation of the legislature’s efforts to expand its definition of beneficial use—essentially what the state defines as an appropriate use of water, including agricultural, industrial or municipal uses—to include conservation.
Last session, the Senate passed SB277 which allows water saved through the state’s Agricultural Water Optimization Program to be classified as a beneficial use. Now, SB18 would allow all water saved by agriculture producers to be defined as a beneficial use.
The bill is sponsored by Sen. Scott Sandall (R-Tremonton).
Those producers could then monetize or sell that water while keeping their water right. The water could also be used to help instream flows.
The bill passed the Senate unanimously, and the House after a 66-3 vote. It’s awaiting a signature from the governor.
SB125, Secondary Water Amendments amends the legislature’s effort during the 2022 session that required secondary water users to install meters. Utah is the country’s largest supplier of secondary water—untreated and unfiltered water mostly used for irrigation—and lawmakers hoped that by installing meters, users would conserve more.
But lawmakers carved out an exemption for districts that are smaller than 1,000 hookups. Now, Sen. David Hinkins (R-Ferron) wants to increase that exemption to include systems smaller than 2,500 hookups.
The bill was amended so the exemption would not include any tributary to the Great Salt Lake.
It passed the Senate, and received unanimous approval from the House Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee. The bill is now awaiting a vote from the House. — Kyle Dunphey, Utah News Dispatch
