Editor's note: This story is an excerpt from the Great Salt Lake Collaborative's weekly newsletter, Lake Effect from Feb. 21, 2025. To keep up-to-date on water news from around Utah with a focus on Great Salt Lake and the Colorado River, subscribe here for free.
Dear readers,
Here is your wrap up of Week 5 of the Utah Legislature: A couple of water conservation bills moved through the legislative process this week, along with two others that lake advocates say would make it harder to save water.
With two weeks left in the session, the Great Salt Lake Project at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law released a legislative update this week that noted that several bills show a commitment to the lake.
However, the report noted "that the current legislative efforts are not sufficient to address the critical threats to Great Salt Lake, or even to change its downward trajectory. We hope to see more bills directly benefiting Great Salt Lake in what remains in the session or, more likely, over the interim and next year’s legislative session.”
What do you think? Are lawmakers doing enough? What have they done right and what can be improved?
Notable bills from this week:
HB 328: Water Usage Amendments: This bill, which passed a House committee, was lauded as going “a long way to stopping the decline of the Great Salt Lake,” by the Great Salt Lake Commissioner. It prohibits the use of overhead spray irrigation on grass and plants that aren’t actively used in new commercial, industrial, institutional, mixed use and multi-family projects. It doesn’t apply to agricultural land, single family homes or school property.
Overhead spray wouldn’t be allowed in parking strips or other narrow strips of landscaping or in places that aren’t actively used for outdoor recreation. Cities and counties will be encouraged to enforce the ban, but enforcement is optional.
Sod farmers opposed the bill, saying it could lead to heat islands, among other problems. But supporters noted that 60% of Utah’s water in cities is used outside and half of that is wasted because of evaporation, wind and overuse. That kind of water use is unsustainable if Utah wants to keep growing, supporters noted.
H.B. 368 Local Land Use Amendments: Meant to ease homebuilding and make housing more affordable, it would make it harder for cities to require water-wise landscaping measures, according to the Great Salt Lake Project. It prohibits cities from withholding building permits if private landscaping plans haven’t been submitted. It passed a House subcommittee.
S.B. 201 Real Estate Amendments: This would revise a relatively new law that had required homeowners’ associations to adopt rules supporting water-wise landscaping in areas for which the association is responsible. Under the bill, the requirement would only apply to unit owners, according to the Great Salt Lake Project. And it allows HOAs to prohibit converting grass to waterwise landscaping in areas greater than 8 feet wide. It passed the Senate and heads to the House.
HB 274 Water Amendments: This bill that would allow tiered water rates — charging more for more use — for culinary and secondary (untreated) water to encourage conservation. It passed the full House and moves to the Senate. “This bill really encourages water conservation”, said Rep. Bridger Bolinder during House floor debate. “This is a tough conversation at times, but until we start treating water like other utilities in our state, the state can’t continue to sustain the growth we’re currently experiencing.”
HJR009 Joint Resolution Regarding Utah's Share of Colorado River Water: Passed a House committee and could have an impact on negotiations between states, tribes and Mexico over the future of the Colorado River, according to FOX 13 News coverage. It calls for Utah to use its full allocation of Colorado River water in the upper and lower basins.
