LOGAN, Utah — Governor Spencer Cox has signed a series of bills centered around water conservation, including bills that will make it easier for agricultural producers to help the Great Salt Lake.
At a meeting of northern Utah water users on Tuesday, the governor invited lawmakers who worked on the bills to the stage with him as he signed the legislation. He signed a bill that demands data centers report how much water they use; a bill to cut out protests to a water rights application and streamline processes; a bill to ensure what water is conserved actually gets to the Great Salt Lake; and a bill that agriculture — the state's top water user — helped craft that makes it easier to dedicate water to the lake.
"How can we think about water differently as a commodity, where you put it into your crop rotation. That’s what we’re trying to do," said Rep. Jill Koford, R-Ogden, who sponsored some of the bills.
One of her bills is designed to make it so that a farmer or rancher could more easily agree to lease their water for the Great Salt Lake and get paid for it. Eric Marble with Chanshare Farms said they were already exploring not growing as many crops this year and instead sending the water to the lake.
"I think as they get more comfortable with, like, a free market system for water, it will be something they’re willing to do," he said of other agriculture producers.
Kirt Lindley with the South Cache Water Users told FOX 13 News he believed that the idea of leasing water is a good one. He wanted to ensure that water saved in Hyrum would actually make it to the Great Salt Lake and not be diverted. Another bill would ensure water districts release an equivalent of saved water closer to the lake at a time it's most needed.
"We were having a hard time actually getting the water from where it was saved to the Great Salt Lake. This helps with that," Gov. Cox said of one of the bills.
But farmers still have concerns. Lindley said his fellow farmers have raised some issues that make them reluctant.
"If you lease water to the state, eventually the state’s going to come back and say you don’t need this water, so they’re going to keep taking that water," he told FOX 13 News. "In talking to people? That’s the biggest hurdle that I’ve heard."
Rep. Koford insisted her legislation would not interfere with an agriculture producer's water right, nor give the state any kind of ability to take it permanently. Farmers would be compensated for their water and they could choose not to renew their lease in the future.
The bills come at a time when Utah is experiencing a bleak water year. Nearly all of the state is in drought, snowpack has not been great, and the snow water equivalent (the water we get out of snow) is at a record low.
"The reservoir system is going to be challenged this year, and so that means cutbacks earlier for ag producers, it means restrictions in most parts of the state pretty early on this year," Gov. Cox told FOX 13 News. "My message to Utahns is please, please, please conserve."
This article is published through the Great Salt Lake Collaborative, a solutions journalism initiative that partners news, education and media organizations to help inform people about the plight of the Great Salt Lake—and what can be done to make a difference before it is too late. Read all of our stories at greatsaltlakenews.org.
