Issue Overview

The purpose of this section is to provide information and boilerplate language that will help to provide a basic understanding of the issue by factually describing the issue, its scope, and dimensions.

The greatest increase in Utah 's future water demands will be for municipal & industrial water as a result of population growth. In some areas, new and substantial water demands could come from industrial development. The growth of these municipal and industrial water demands will drive many future water decisions. Conservation, in order to reduce per capita demands, is an essential first step in meeting future demands. While the conversion of agricultural water supplies to municipal and industrial uses will occur as farmland is urbanized, these conversions will not always be sufficient to satisfy future demands. Therefore, other means of securing adequate water supplies are necessary.

Options & Trade-Offs

• What are the future water needs?
• Where and when will additional water be needed?
• Is there water physically available for new development?
• What water rights need to be acquired to develop available supplies?
• What infrastructure is needed?
• What are the environmental, social or engineering challenges facing future water development?
• To what extent is water conservation being promoted as a means to reduce water development needs?
• Will future development occur on agricultural lands?
• Will the water historically available for agriculture become available for other needs as development occurs?
• What is the status of the ground water (quantity, quality, availability and vulnerability)?
• Are ground water recharge areas being preserved?
• Could cloud seeding programs be implemented that would enhance the snowpack in local watersheds?
• What funding is needed?

Potential for Conflict

Competition for available water supplies is great. While agriculture has been and will continue to be the largest consumer of water in Utah , municipal and industrial uses are growing rapidly. The growing population will seek water-based recreation and will become more vocal for their interests. Similarly as we have become established and moved beyond meeting basic survival needs, there are more people calling for preservation of the environment.

Proposed federal land management policies, such as ACEC's , Wild & Scenic Rivers , and Wilderness, also may limit further development of some water supplies. Federal reserved water rights which will be set aside for the various federal parks, Indian tribes, etc. located in the state must also be considered in future water resource decisions.

Range of Alternatives

Future water needs can be satisfied in many different ways. Below is a list of some of the more common methods of meeting future needs:

• Water conservation
• Agricultural water conversions
• Water transfers
• New water development
• Conjunctive use of surface and ground water
• Aquifer storage and recovery
• Secondary irrigation systems
• Cooperative agreements (arrangements with other water suppliers to share/lease their excess supplies)
• Water reuse (recycling wastewater effluent)
• Do nothing

Ideally, every community should have a plan in place to ensure the water needs are met for at least two decades into the future. These plans would outline water conservation goals and how they will be met as well as a balanced combination of other means that will allow future needs to be satisfied. Water supplies needed to meet future demands should be identified and should include sufficient excess above projected demand to be reliable in times of drought or emergency.

While one method may be sufficient to meet future needs over the next 5 to 10 years, a balanced combination of several methods will likely be required to meet needs over the next 20, 50 or even 100 years. When preparing County Resource Management Plans, counties should project future needs out at least 20 to 50 years so that potential problems can be identified early and appropriate measures taken to ensure needs are met.

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Existing Condition

The purpose of this section is to provide information and boilerplate language that will help to describe the existing condition.

Data Review

Approximately 80 percent of Utah 's presently developed water supply is used to irrigate agricultural crops. Municipal and industrial demands make up the remaining 20 percent. When considering public community system uses only, Utah has one of the highest per-capita consumption rates in the entire nation at about 293 gallons per person per day. One of the reasons for this higher than average use is people using too much water on their landscaping.

In a recent survey of drinking water systems conducted by the Division of Drinking Water, the majority of respondents indicated that the overall physical condition of their system would need to be upgraded within the next 15 years, and 57 percent indicated that their present system was currently deficient or would be deficient within the next three years. A total of 32 percent of all systems rated their ability to maintain minimum fire flows as “fair” or “poor”. The survey also indicated that 6 percent of water systems do not collect enough revenue from water bills to meet the usual operation and maintenance expenses of their system, with 27 percent of systems collect sufficient funds to cover the costs of future improvements.

During the most recent drought, several communities throughout the state implemented watering restrictions to assure an adequate water supply for their citizens. These restrictions ranged in severity from voluntary requests for compliance to levying fines for those who failed to comply with watering ordinances that prohibited watering during parts of the day or more than once a week.

Utah Division of Drinking Water, 2002 Survey of Community Drinking Water Systems , (Dept. of Environmental Quality, 2004), Appendix 5.

Items to Consider

• What are the future water needs?
• Where and when will additional water be needed?
• Is there water physically available for new development?
• What water rights need to be acquired to develop available supplies?
• What infrastructure is needed?
• What are the environmental, social or engineering challenges facing future water development?
• To what extent is water conservation being promoted as a means to reduce water development needs?
• Will future development occur on agricultural lands?
• Will the water historically available for agriculture become available for other needs as development occurs?
• What is the status of the ground water (quantity, quality, availability and vulnerability)?
• Are ground water recharge areas being preserved?
• Could cloud seeding programs be implemented that would enhance the snowpack in local watersheds?
• What funding is needed?

Boilerplate Language

…will vary widely depending upon local conditions.

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Desired Future Condition

The purpose of this section is to provide information and boilerplate language that will help to describe the improvements and changes that need to be made to the existing condition in order to achieve the desired future condition. It also provides the basis for the development of policy statements that support the desired future condition.

Range of Alternatives

See ”Issue Overview – Range of Alternatives ”. A balanced combination of these methods should be applied to reach the desired future condition, and will vary according to local conditions.

Boilerplate Language

We need to link this to the “items to consider” list.

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Policy and Position Statements

The purpose of this section is to provide boilerplate policy statement language that will support the desired future conditions. A range of possible conditions is provided here.

Boilerplate Language

•  Communities should collect sufficient revenue to keep their systems in good and proper operating condition.

•  Communities should set aside revenue to pay for at least part of costly future improvements and new water developments.

•  Communities should prepare long-term water plans that address how to meet future water needs.

•  Communities should prepare water conservation plans to reduce their future water resource demands.

•  Municipalities should acquire water historically used for agriculture as lands are developed.

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Goals, Objectives, and/or Action Items

The purpose of this section is to provide boilerplate examples of the types of improvements or changes that typically would be needed to reach the desired future condition. “Goal” is the desired condition. “Objectives” are improvements or changes that need to be made to reach the goal. “Action Items” are specific actions that can be taken in order to achieve the objective.

Are there any examples of the types of improvements that you have seen?

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Monitoring Methods and Mechanisms

The purpose of this section is to provide suggested techniques and methods for monitoring progress towards the desired condition.

Communities should meter all water connections and keep track of water use to determine whether conservation goals are being met.

Who does this well? Are there estimates on costs?

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Sources and Resources to Assist

This section is intended to be a reference guide to help locate any sources of assistance.

All counties and local communities should prepare plans that address their long-term water needs. In addition to carefully considering how to meet future water needs, these plans should address water quality and environmental concerns.

A crucial element of this long-term water planning, is the preparation of a water conservation plan. Water conservation plans are required for most water suppliers and conservancy districts in the state as part of the Water Conservation Plan Act. Compliance with this act and implementation of the plans prepared will help the state achieve the goal that has been set to reduce per-capita water consumption of public community systems by at least 25 percent before 2050. Without the support of local communities, this goal cannot be accomplished. Although the act does not require all water suppliers in the state to prepare water conservation plans, state water funding is not available to any entity that does not have a plan. Therefore, all communities in Utah should prepare water conservation plans.

The Division of Water Resources is responsible for comprehensive state water planning. The division prepares and updates a statewide water plan and detailed plans for each of Utah 's major river basins. These plans estimate present and future water needs and focus on how to meet these needs. They also address important water resources issues at the local and statewide level. The purpose of these plans is to provide local water planners and managers, as well as the general public, with some valuable data and guidelines that will assist them in their efforts to meet future water needs. Copies of these plans can be obtained from the division and are also available online at: www.water.utah.gov.

The Board and Division of Water Resources also provide technical and financial assistance to public and private entities to develop, upgrade or repair municipal, agricultural and industrial water systems. During the past 55 years, the division and board have been involved in the planning, design, and construction of over 1,200 water projects. Over the years, the Legislature has appropriated approximately $192 million to the board's three revolving-loan funding programs: the Revolving Construction Fund, Cities Water Loan Fund, and Conservation and Development Fund. In addition to these three funds, the board also oversees a Dam Safety Grant program, which assists local water entities with needed repairs to existing dams.

Contacts:
Dennis Strong
Deputy Director, Development Branch Manager
(801) 538-7297
dennisstrong@utah.gov

Eric Millis
Assistant Director, Planning Branch Manager
(801) 538-7298
ericmillis@utah.gov

The Permanent Community Impact Fund Board provides loans and /or grants to state agencies and subdivisions of the state which are or may be socially or economically impacted, directly or indirectly, by mineral resource development on federal lands. For more information, see the Utah Permanent Community Impact Board's webpage: http://dced.utah.gov/pcifb/index.html

Contacts:
Keith J. Burnett, Fund Manager
(801) 538-8725
kjburnett@utah.gov

Gayle Gardner, Program Support Specialist
(801) 538-8735
ggardner@utah.gov

The Utah Drinking Water Board is an 11-person board appointed by the Governor. It is empowered by Title 19, Chapter 4 of the Utah Code to adopt rules governing the design, operation and maintenance of Utah 's "public drinking water systems". The Drinking Water Board also disperses funds to build and operate drinking water systems.

Contacts:
Michael Georgeson, Loan Program Contact
(801) 536-4197
mgeorgeson@utah.gov

•  Does the USU Extension help with this?

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