NEPHI, Utah — It was an idea crafted by the Utah State Legislature to help ensure that water saved through conservation and other efforts could make it downstream to places like the Great Salt Lake and Colorado River.
But so far, no farmer has taken the state up on it.
"The truth is that we haven't had the upswelling of support and the response for a lot of change applications. And it's something, I think, that we are looking into, making sure that we understand why," said Great Salt Lake Commissioner Brian Steed.
The Utah State Legislature has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on "agriculture optimization," which are incentives to get farmers and ranchers — Utah's top water user — to switch to new technologies that grow crops with less water.
It has been quite successful. Farmers have told The Great Salt Lake Collaborative (of which FOX 13 News is a member) that they have seen significant water savings.
"Change water applications" then allow a water rights holder who saves water through conservation to donate or lease it to someone downstream or places like the Great Salt Lake or Colorado River. The legislation that created that process upends more than a century of water rights in Utah by departing from a historic "use it or lose it" approach. Water rights holders who do a change application agree to temporarily gift the water (sometimes in exchange for money) without fear of losing their original rights.
The Great Salt Lake Commissioner, a position created by the legislature to oversee plans to rescue the troubled lake, said change applications have the potential to help reverse water declines.
"We expected to have that water, then those change applications to come in, and we'd be able to track it into places like the lake. We just haven't seen that yet," Steed confirmed to FOX 13 News in a recent interview.
There may be several reasons why agriculture producers just aren't jumping to file the applications. First of all, the law barely went into effect in July.
"It’s 100-plus years of water law we are now working with and putting tweaks in," said Wade Garrett, who works for the Utah Farm Bureau and farms himself on the edge of the Great Salt Lake Basin in Nephi. "Water rights are still protected but understand what they can do with it and how is still difficult."
Garrett said he is aware of a few farmers who have put in applications with the state, but experienced some issues that are being worked through. He said it is entirely possible that someone also just needs to step up and be the "guinea pig" to show other agriculture producers that it can successfully work.
Another issue is how much money is being offered for the water that's saved.
"They’ve got to make sure it’s worthwhile to them," Garrett told FOX 13 News. "Their water rights are still protected and the money that comes from it is worth it to the ag producer for what they’re temporarily giving up or working through."
Sen. Scott Sandall, R-Tremonton, who sponsored the bill said it was designed for a free market system. With back-to-back high water years, there isn't as much demand for someone else's water right now (unless you're the Great Salt Lake). But Sen. Sandall said he believed his law will achieve its intended goal once people are more comfortable with it.
"Farmers and ranchers, canal companies, those that have big hunk of our usable have always held those water rights sacred. They’re very hesitant and want to make sure they hold those water rights," he told FOX 13 News.
Sen. Sandall said if there needs to be changes to the law he is open to considering them, but would prefer to see how it plays out for now.
"I think we’re in the infancy of a new water structure. I don’t believe it would be very advantageous to create and continue to change and to tweak," he said. "People need to be comfortable with what we’ve done. Let’s let it work for a while and see."
Steed said that it may be possible they need to increase incentives to farmers to persuade them the Great Salt Lake has a need for their water.
"It may be that additional incentive to say, 'Yes, you're engaging in these water-saving practices and now you're going to get an additional financial benefit in we'll pay you for your saved water,'" he said.
This article is published through the Great Salt Lake Collaborative, a solutions journalism initiative that partners news, education and media organizations to help inform people about the plight of the Great Salt Lake—and what can be done to make a difference before it is too late. Read all of our stories at greatsaltlakenews.org.
