Editor's note: This story is an excerpt from the Great Salt Lake Collaborative's weekly newsletter, Lake Effect from Feb. 28, 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 water legislation for Week 6 of the Utah Legislature: Three bills that focus on water conservation faced roadblocks and $50 million for the Great Salt Lake Commissioner's Office is up in the air because of federal funding freezes under President Trump. Meanwhile, you may pay more for water under a bill making its way through the Legislature, according to FOX 13 News.
1. SB 305 Water Wise Landscaping: A bill that would have limited grass at state owned buildings failed to pass a committee this week in part because of how it may affect another kind of grass — alfalfa.
“Turf today, alfalfa tomorrow. I’m not sure where it ends up,” Sen. David Hinkins, a Republican from Ferron, said during a committee hearing this week. “I have water rights. I paid for those. I have the rights to put that water where I want it. It’s taking personal property rights away from us.”
Sen. Scott Sandall, R-Tremonton, said he wants to promote water conservation but doesn’t support a “war on turf.”
“The war to me is not on turf,” Sandall said. “The war is education on conservation, even if you do want to put turf down.”
Officials in other committee hearings this legislative session have noted that Utahns overwater their grass and could save water if they watered only as much as their grass needs.
Sod farmers and the Utah Farm Bureau lobbied against the bill.
2. Another bill we’ve written about — HB 328: Water Usage Amendments — narrowly failed in a full House vote this week. Considered a small step for conservation by the sponsor, it would have limited the use of overhead spray irrigation at new commercial, industrial and multi-family projects in northern Utah on areas that aren’t used for playing, exercise or recreation. That would encourage conservation by limiting water-thirsty grass to areas that would be actively used for recreation.
While it was seen as helping stop the decline of the Great Salt Lake and supported by water conservancy districts and some agriculture groups who want urbanites to save water along with farmers, grass farmers had spoken against it in committee. During the House floor debate, one lawmaker said his friends who work in landscaping don’t like working with drip irrigation systems.
3. SB92 Golf Course Amendments: This bill has passed the Senate but its hearing in a House committee was delayed this week. It would allow an analysis of water use on publicly owned golf courses to recommend water-saving strategies and eventually create a master plan for state-owned golf courses. Privately owned courses would be exempt but may cooperate with the analysis.Regarding funding requests:I’ve heard concern from lake and water conservation advocates that some key funding requests that they support will likely not get funded this year. They include:
- $30 million in federal funds for the Great Salt Lake Commissioner’s Office from the Bureau of Reclamation. It's part of a $50 million package supposed to be given to the office through the Inflation Reduction Act to lease water and deliver it to the lake. All of the funds have been frozen under an executive order signed by President Trump. A spokeswoman for the commissioner's office said they are optimistic the money will be granted.
- $16 million for the Great Salt Lake Commissioner’s Office to lease water to raise the lake. Since it was ranked at No. 20 by a legislative subcommittee, it is seen as unlikely to be funded by some.
The Legislature ends March 7.
