Utah is another step closer to paying farmers to leave more water in the Colorado River system.
The state’s Demand Management Pilot Program will use around $4 million in state money to compensate farmers who temporarily stop irrigating some of their land. The practice is known as fallowing, and the water they would have normally used for irrigation can stay in the river. The idea is to then track that conserved water as it flows downstream and gets stored in a reservoir, such as Lake Powell.
The program has received 27 applications from water users in east and southeast Utah to take part in the effort’s inaugural year. The Colorado River Authority board will now consider which projects to fund as it looks to launch this spring.
The saved water will hopefully help Utah avoid mandatory cuts in the future as it looks toward a renegotiated Colorado River agreement next year, said Authority Executive Director Amy Haas.
“This is a small pilot program. But it's a big step toward putting teeth, in my opinion, in our post-2026 commitments, while providing increased protection to our water users — namely our farmers who choose to participate.”
This is one of several efforts in Utah aimed at slowing the depletion of the strained Colorado River — from a cost-sharing program to help farmers update their irrigation equipment to research testing more water-efficient crops.
This is the first time Utah has managed this type of fallowing program, however. So, it should give the state valuable information, said Authority engineer Lily Bosworth.
“It's a pilot program, so we're hoping to inform a full-scale program and learn lessons along the way as we test projects in a sort of small-scale way.”
The Authority is still working out the details for having the saved water officially recognized as conservation with the Utah Division of Water Rights, a key part of the state’s plan to eventually create a savings account in Lake Powell. Even if that element is delayed, Bosworth said starting the program soon could still help the state learn about what it takes to get farmers on board and how to measure the conserved water downstream.
The Authority estimates all 27 proposed projects could save roughly 22,600 acre-feet of water this year alone. That’s equivalent to the average water use of 45,000 households. One acre-foot is enough water to cover an acre of ground a foot deep in water.
The program’s limited budget, however, doesn’t allow the state to accept all the applicants. So, it’s up to the board to decide which projects to fund, based on their conservation impact and how they build relationships for future efforts.
Bosworth’s team recommended a set of applicants, which includes eight fallowing projects in southeast Utah. The estimated water savings in 2025 and 2026 would be a combined 4,917 acre-feet, at an approximate cost of $1.9 million. That would be $390 per acre-foot of water conserved.
An alternative option would include three projects near the Green River. The Authority estimates those would reduce depletion by 6,393 acre-feet over the next two years. So, while this option has a larger total price tag — nearly $2.5 million — the cost per acre-foot of water savings remains the same.
Board member Jay Mark Humphrey, however, expressed concerns about the program’s cost relative to the value of the questions it answers. Humphrey, who operates a farm in Emery County, also wasn’t sold on the program’s ability to account for water that’s inevitably lost during its long journey downstream.
“When I release water, I lose 12% going 17 miles. So, if you buy this water up in Uintah [County], how much water is actually going to get to Lake Powell?”
Those are the types of unknowns the program hopes to solve, said Chair Gene Shawcroft. If the pilot allows Utah to have more field-tested options for conservation in a drier future with uncertainty around the Colorado River, he said that would pay dividends.
“We're trying something that's never been done before. That always creates questions,” Shawcroft said.
“By human nature, new things or change are always hard to deal with. And yet at the same time, if we're not thinking outside the box, we won't be in a situation where things can improve or we can have some ability to be the architects of our future.”
The board unanimously voted during its Feb. 13 meeting to delay selecting applicant projects until March to give members more time to have their questions answered.
Bosworth cautioned against moving too slowly, though.
The state’s estimates are based on starting the program April 1, near the typical beginning of Utah’s irrigation season. So if it ends up launching later than that, she said it could lower the amount of water saved from depletion and the amount of money paid to participants.
