With quarter-acre home lots, water used for irrigating alfalfa is about equal to the amount of water needed by a family in a year. Families don't let land lie fallow from time to time, so they tend to use more water over the long run. Still, conversion can reduce the need for new water.

One possible new water development involves capturing more of the Bear River's resources. The $260 million effort could make 150,000 acre-feet available by about 2050.

Another innovative solution to the parched conditions of Utah's southwestern corner, and possibly beyond that, is building a water pipeline from Lake Powell.

Between 80,000 and 100,000 acre-feet could be shipped to consumers north of the lake, under this notion. Cost would range from $320 million to $450 million, depending on the alternative chosen.

The less expensive project would be to supply St. George with Lake Powell water; a more expensive alternative would include Cedar City. But that more lengthy pipeline seems less likely, Strong said, unless "Cedar City can't find any other options."

An imaginative alternative that California has was outlined by Jerry Johns, deputy director of that state's Division of Water Resources: desalinating seawater.

The cost of desalinating water has dropped dramatically recently, he said during the panel discussion. From an earlier cost of $2,000 per acre-foot, it is now in the range of $600 to $700 an acre-foot, he said.

That works out to an upper cost of $17.5 million for the equivalent of a 25,000 acre-foot reservoir. By comparison, one official at the conference said permitting alone for a slightly smaller reservoir in Wyoming cost $8 million.

In an interview during a break in the sessions, Johns said a bond issue is pending in California to invest $50 million in a desalination project. He believes the cost of this type of water project will drop even further.

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E-mail: bau@desnews.com