Utah’s 2022 and 2023 legislative sessions concluded with a record number of water conservation bills and appropriations totaling nearly $1 billion in spending. These efforts will help Utah become water-efficient and thus resilient in both dry and wet years. Moreover, this resiliency will help preserve and protect Great Salt Lake.
HB 137: State crustacean designation
- Designates brine shrimp as the state crustacean, highlighting Great Salt Lake’s importance to Utah.
HB 220: Emissions reduction amendments
- Tasks the Utah Division of Air Quality with conducting an emission inventory in the counties surrounding Great Salt Lake. This inventory will become the basis for recommended halogen emission standards and an air pollutant reduction plan. Halogens contribute to wintertime inversion conditions and negatively impact the respiratory system.
HB 307: Utah Water Ways
- Creates a new nonprofit, statewide partnership to optimize the use of water. Provides $2 million one-time and $1 million ongoing to establish and run the nonprofit.
HB 349: Water reuse projects amendments
- Prohibits water reuse projects after Nov. 1, 2023 unless a project is owned by the federal government, supplies water to Great Salt Lake or is subject to a water replacement plan (delivers an equivalent amount to Great Salt Lake). Adds investigation of water reuse impacts to the Great Salt Lake Basin Integrated Plan.
HB 450: Landscaping requirements
- Requires homeowners’ associations to use waterwise landscape materials. Prohibits them from requiring more than 50% plant coverage that is not waterwise.
HB 491: Amendments related to the Great Salt Lake
- Creates a Great Salt Lake Commissioner who will develop a strategic plan and coordinate the agencies and interests aligned with the lake. The commissioner will annually inform the governor, the president of the Senate, and the speaker of the House about the status and implementation of the strategic plan.
- State agencies shall cooperate with the commissioner, including providing information to the extent not prohibited by federal or state law, at the commissioner’s request.
- The Great Salt Lake Advisory Council will advise the commissioner.
- The commissioner may also require a state agency to act or refrain from acting to protect Great Salt Lake, as is consistent with the strategic plan.
HB 513: Great Salt Lake amendments
- Sets an emergency trigger (when low lake levels require immediate action to protect the ecology of the lake and other lake-derived values), allowing state regulators to halt mineral extraction and manage the railroad causeway berm when salinity hits a certain concentration.
- Incentivizes non-depletive methods of mineral extraction by modifying severance tax and royalty requirements for lithium. Water-saving technologies and a reduction of depletions are encouraged. Also, the bill ensures value derived from extraction is available to protect the resource.
SB 92: Special license plate designation
- Creates a Great Salt Lake license plate, funds will go to the Sovereign Lands Management Account to conserve the Great Salt Lake watershed and ecosystem.
SB 118: Water efficient landscaping incentives
- Outdoor water use makes up about 60% of Utah’s municipal and industrial water use. To conserve, we need to plant grass in areas where it’s actively used, not treat grass as the default ground cover.
- Provides additional funds ($5 million one-time and $3 million ongoing) for the statewide landscape conversion incentive program.
- Also provides mechanisms to protect the state’s investments.
SB 277: Agricultural water optimization
- Appropriates $200 million to expand the existing program in the Department of Agriculture and Food, which provides matching grants for irrigation efficiency projects.
- Change applications can be filed to quantify water saved with the Division of Water Rights.
HC R7: Concurrent resolution supporting the creation of the Great Salt Lake Sentinel Landscape
- Encourages the Utah Department of Veterans and Military Affairs and its partners to submit an application to establish the Great Salt Lake Sentinel Landscape.