Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — A new report recommends Utah leaders reconsider how water is priced for rate payers and recommends that delivery systems do a better job of tracking use at the faucet, providing "real-time" feedback on consumption.
The recommendations are among several found in Flowing Toward 2050: Utah's Water Outlook, released Wednesday and compiled by the Utah Foundation.
With Utah's population expected to grow by 2.5 million by 2050, the report points to the inevitable tension and challenges that will accompany that growth when it comes to ensuring sustainable supplies of water are available to meet residential, agriculture and industrial needs.
“The West has a history of water disputes crossing city, county and even state boundaries,” said Stephen Kroes, president of the Utah Foundation.
“This report is meant to educate policy makers, business leaders and the community at large on this important issue, and facilitate an informed and productive exchange between differing viewpoints. The bottom line is that we must plan for a sustainable supply of water to maintain the quality of life that we enjoy in Utah, but we also should avoid huge capital expenditures for new projects if conservation can make existing supplies last longer."
For those who believe the current, developed supply is sufficient, increased emphasis on conservation and better water management are key policy strategies.
–Flowing Toward 2050: Utah's Water Outlook
The report acknowledges that contradictory water philosophies are at play when it comes to the future of water supplies in the state — a mindset that predicts scarcity if development of more water does not take place and the view that enough water exists in the system already, but it just needs to be conserved and priced more aggressively.
"For those who believe the current, developed supply is sufficient, increased emphasis on conservation and better water management are key policy strategies," the report states. "For those who think that population growth will overrun existing current supply in the next 15-20 years, emphasis is placed on development of new supply through large- and small-scale projects."
As an example, the report notes that an additional 749,000 acre-feet of water will be needed to meet demand between 2010 and 2060.
Richard Bay, general manager of the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District, said that much water is enough to cover downtown Salt Lake City with more than 1,000 feet of water.
"The cost to develop that water is high, and the need is so urgent to promote our economic development," he said at a press conference at City Creek Park unveiling the report's release.
Bay's district joins Washington County and Weber Basin water districts in promotion of infrastructure repairs and large, multibillion-dollar water development projects the managers contend are necessary to meet population growth in the northern and southern reaches of the state.
The report notes that the existing developed water supply, with stated conservation goals, will be outstripped by demand somewhere between 2030 and 2040.
But Zach Frankel, a water watchdog and head of the Utah Rivers Council, said claims of "running out of water" are baseless.
"They're Chicken Little scare tactics" to squeeze more money out of taxpayers, he said.
"We talk about water development as if we are going to shrivel up into prunes if these water projects are not approved."
Frankel dared people to observe the frequency and amount of water that collects in Utah gutters — a practice that invokes a fine in cities like Las Vegas.
With intense drought a reality in the West the past two years and weather patterns predicted to deliver less snowpack that melts sooner, the report underscores that current water challenges are only going to be exacerbated against the backdrop of population growth.
"Water in the West is complicated, and Utah does not prove the exception. Utah’s water system will need to undergo changes in order to accommodate 2.5 million more Utahns in 35 years, but which approach is chosen should be selected only after careful consideration," it concludes.
Among its recommendations:
• Re-examine the role of property tax funding for water agencies, with a goal of reducing tax support and increasing water rates.
• Install new technology to monitor water use, such as advanced metering infrastructure, which provides consumers with real-time feedback on their usage.
• State and water conservancy districts should continue to strongly encourage municipal governments to create or update existing ordinances that support conservation.
The Utah Foundation is an independent, nonpartisan organization that provides analysis on issues in Utah that was formed more than 60 years ago. The report is available online.
