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SALT LAKE CITY — A bill that allows farmers and ranchers who optimize their water use to sell their conserved water for conservation purposes without losing their water rights cleared the Utah Legislature on Wednesday, as efforts to better track "saved" water intensifies.
The Utah House of Representatives voted 66-3 on Wednesday to adopt SB18 after the Senate approved the measure with a 27-0 vote last month. The bill will head to Gov. Spencer Cox's desk for his signature.
The vote happened after members of the House Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee unanimously voted to advance HB448 earlier in the day. That bill would require the Utah Division of Water Resources to monitor state legislative water optimization efforts along the Great Salt Lake, Colorado River and Sevier River basins, and report its findings back to the state.
SB18
Sen. Scott Sandall, R-Tremonton, who sponsored SB18, explained on the Senate floor last month his measure is a "continuation" of efforts last year to mark "saved water" as a new beneficial use while the Legislature also added $200 million to the state's agricultural water optimization program.
Saved water is the amount of water that is reduced when a water user improves the efficiency of their equipment. The bill proposed that anyone who saves water would have the option to lease or sell the value of the saved water based on measures approved by the state engineer.
"It simply relates to the definitions and requirements for water that is saved," added Rep. Casey Snider, R-Paradise, the bill's floor sponsor, before Wednesday's vote.
The bill makes some technical changes to the program, increasing the amount the state will provide drip or automated surge irrigation from 50% of the project cost to 75% as a way to better incentivize those types of projects.
Beth Parker and Brig Daniels, with the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, wrote last week that the bill might be one of the "most important bills" for the Great Salt Lake.
"It would make it easier for water-rights holders to justify allowing portions of their water rights to flow downstream and, if properly shepherded, to reach Great Salt Lake," they wrote in an analysis of the bill.
It's slated to take effect on May 1.
HB448
While lawmakers tout the benefits of saving water through optimization, they acknowledge more work is needed to quantify how much water is being saved and where it goes after it's saved. It follows concerns about those issues that arose last year.
That's what HB448, sponsored by Rep. Raymond Ward, R-Bountiful, strives to do. It would require the Utah Division of Water Resources to report data to the Utah Legislature on an annual basis. The data would also be posted online to offer more transparency to the projects Utah is funding, how much water the projects save and where that water goes after it's saved.
It bill would allow the division to go "one step further" from what it currently has information on, such as money spent, contracts signed and how many secondary meters have been installed, said Candice Hasenyager, director of the Utah Division of Water Resources.
State engineer Teresa Wilhelmsen added it would help her have all of the important information in one place instead of the current process, which requires "different formats" depending on the region.
"There really isn't a mechanism, a consolidated mechanism to report (water saving data) to this body," she told the committee. "(The bill) would bring all of this information together."
The Utah Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel reported it would cost about $23,600 in one-time funds and $59,600 in ongoing funds to implement the bill.
It would essentially cover most of the state and not just the Great Salt Lake basin. Rep. Rex Shipp, R-Cedar City, said it's beneficial for his district because water saved there is meaningful to the region's aquifers.
All bills must be approved by the House and Senate by the end of March 1. If approved, it would take effect on May 1.
The bill wouldn't be the only effort toward tracking saved water. Snider requested funds earlier this month to help pay for the tools to track water within the Great Salt Lake watershed earlier this month.
Snider said Wednesday the money he asked for is "probably going to be made available" this year, but that doesn't mean Utahns will have saved water data right away, including if HB448 is passed.
"There will be a lag time in that," he said. "I just wanted to make sure, publicly and on the record, that we are not disappointed in the first report that comes out. ... As that builds in, I think that (the bill) is a very good standard to have."
