SALT LAKE CITY — Two bills and a resolution to move forward on amending the Utah Constitution received committee approval Friday and if successful could result in significant changes to water law.

One measure, HB31, requires greater transparency from water providers to detail service area boundaries and "equal protection" for those residents who may live outside a particular given boundary, providing more representation to those ratepayers.

Another bill would modify a 1915 law dealing with watershed protection and how much authority a city has to exercise land use decisions outside its municipal boundaries.

The issue of extraterritorial jurisdiction has been simmering for decades as various landowners, government entities and others have tried to control what happens in the Wasatch canyons.

Critics of Salt Lake City, which gets 60 percent of its municipal water supply from the canyons, complain that it exercises too much land control in an era when sophisticated water treatment systems and various agencies are sufficient to protect the water supply.

In addition, some other areas of the state such as Wasatch and Duchesne counties — which are part of a complex water delivery system serving portions of the Wasatch Front — could be vulnerable to land use restrictions under extraterritorial jurisdiction.

Sen. Ralph Okerlund's SB17 proposes to require written agreements if a first-class city wants to exercise extra-jurisdictional authority outside of its county boundaries with cities and counties where the source water is, a public hearing and public notification to state water authorities.

The resolution, HJR1, by Rep. Keven Stratton, R-Orem, would authorize a constitutional amendment before voters to change an early statehood provision that prohibits a city from selling or leasing any of its water or waterworks.

Stratton's resolution makes clear water providers can enter into contracts for water deliveries outside boundaries at a reasonable cost.

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Controversy continues over trio of Utah water reform measures

Three water bills that could enact significant reforms to Utah law will be heard in a legislative committee Friday morning, and while the result of months of work, the measures are still accompanied by questions and concerns that could doom passage.

The water reform measures surfaced in the 2018 legislative session, but were punted to specialized study committees over the summer to try to eke out compromise legislation to address problems dealing with surplus water contracts, water service areas, the state constitution and other areas of conflict.

Stratton offered an amendment to Coleman's bill and Okerlund's bill without success.

His changes on Coleman's bill would have invoked additional oversight for cities entering into new contracts for water delivery or expanding their oversight by having those changes reported to a pair of legislative committees.

The proposal failed after task force members and some lawmakers indicated changes could result in possibly derailing the entire effort.

"You start to pick apart the compromise," said Rep. Tim Hawkes, R-Centerville.

"I don't know of a better way to skin a cat, honestly," he continued. "These are issues that were decades in the making. (These) were hard-fought, difficult negotiations."

Stratton said he found it troubling that more oversight was such a sore spot.

"I find it ironic they don't want to come and communicate with us. That is part of the problem that got us here, where we are."

He also tried to confine a city's exercise of extraterritorial authority to the municipality's own boundaries with an amendment to Okerlund's bill.

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