Extreme drought has highlighted the need for Utah to stretch the water supply and look for ways to improve efficiency. Utah’s 2022 legislative session concluded with a record number of water conservation bills and appropriations totaling nearly $500 million in spending. The 2023 legislative session is also shaping up to be another year of water investment.
HB 33: Instream Flows
- Updated Utah water law to ensure Great Salt Lake is considered a “beneficial use.” This change authorizes the Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands to hold instream flow rights that benefit state sovereign lands, like Great Salt Lake. It also allows private entities to acquire and hold instream flow water rights on a temporary and fixed time basis.
HB 410: Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancements
- Establishes a water trust tasked with spending $40 million on projects that maintain or improve water quantity and quality to Great Salt Lake. The program also funds programs to protect and restore wetland habitat, conduct studies and support the lake’s natural infrastructure.
- The Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands is also updating and enacting a comprehensive plan for Great Salt Lake.
HB 429: Great Salt Lake Amendments
- Tasks the Utah Division of Water Resources to develop the Great Salt Lake Watershed Integrated Water Assessment to look at how much surface and groundwater flow to the lake. This assessment has been folded into the Great Salt Lake Basin Integrated Plan.
HB 242: Statewide installation of secondary water meters
- Many residential connections use secondary water for outside irrigation. When connections aren’t metered, it is difficult to track and conserve secondary water. This bill appropriated $250 million in grants for the purchase and installation of secondary water meters on pressurized secondary water systems.
SB 89 and SB 110: Integrated land use and water planning
- As one of the fastest-growing states in the nation, how we grow and develop today will set our water use for decades to come.
- SB 89 Requires water suppliers to meet regional water conservation goals.
- SB 110 Requires a water use and preservation element to be part of a municipal or county general plan.
- Integrating these two processes will improve planning for growth and development with less water.
HB 381: Agricultural optimization
- The state is facing critical long-term reliable water supply issues. The agricultural sector accounts for about 75% of the state’s total water use.
- The Legislature appropriated $70 million to continue improving agricultural water use practices, create benefits for farmers, optimize water use and protect water quantity and quality for all uses in the system.
HB 121: Statewide turf buyback program
- 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.
- Turf buyback programs like “Flip Your Strip” incentivize people to replace thirsty grass with waterwise options. These types of programs have traditionally been offered at the local level.
- HB 121 appropriated $5 million for statewide turf buyback, making Utah the first that offers a statewide rebate program.
- HB 121 also requires water conservation at state facilities.