As a result, the state owns all the water in the state. Individuals own rights to use the water, and those water rights can be complicated with some users having priority over others.

But when all the fighting is done, the bottom line is the state owns the water, and the state can take the water under eminent domain. Those with water rights would still have to be compensated a fair market value, but there is no inherent right to keep the rights.

With the state owning the water, there are no water "barons" in Utah squeezing customers with inflated prices. In fact, all water districts operate under state laws that mandate they cannot make a profit from water (they can set aside surpluses for future water development).

With Utah's population expected to double to 5 million people by 2050, that long-standing "beneficial use" policy sets the stage for a massive political battle over what constitutes "beneficial use" — watering alfalfa or drinking water for cities.

Currently, farmers in Utah use about 4 million acre-feet of water to irrigate 1.5 million acres of crops, mostly alfalfa and other livestock feed. That's roughly four times the amount of water being used by all cities and towns in the state combined.

The state water plan predicts a time when "beneficial use" shifts statewide priorities from farming to the needs of urban residents. And the billion-dollar question water planners now face is if and how agriculture water can be moved from fields to cities.

According to the state water plan, "Agricultural irrigation is and will continue to be the primary use of developed water in Utah."

The Utah Farm Bureau has taken a laissez faire attitude toward the loss of farmland and agricultural water to urban encroachment.

"We don't like to see farmers go out of business because of pressures beyond their control," said Sterling Brown, associate director of public policy for the Utah Farm Bureau. "But if the market dictates he or she goes out of business, and they choose to go out of business, we support that."

In areas along the Wasatch Front, it is a relatively simple process to convert agriculture water to culinary water. Cities already buy out neighboring farmers' water rights and ship the irrigation water to a treatment plant. It happens every year in Utah, Salt Lake, Davis and Weber counties as subdivisions sprawl over farms and pastures.

Utah was the fourth-fastest-growing state in the nation in 2000, and most of that growth has come at the expense of farmland, said Larry Lewis, spokesman for the Utah Department of Agriculture, adding there are no hard numbers for how much farmland is being lost every year.