On the water front

"There are thousands of acres lost every year," he said.

But there has been no shortage of water for those new homes as what remains of Wasatch Front agriculture water is converted to what water officials call "M&I," or municipal and industrial uses.

It is much harder — and much more expensive — for water districts to tap into agricultural water in the many rural valleys surrounded by mountains and isolated by canyons. The cost of building pipelines and aqueducts over the Wasatch Mountains is prohibitive, at least in the current water marketplace.

"Economics will determine what water will be developed," Williams said. "Water is a commodity like anything else."

In other words, if the demand is great enough, any source of water becomes developable. Even taking the salt out of the Great Salt Lake is an option if people are willing to pay the price.

"In the big picture, there is an endless supply of water," Williams said. "The limitation is economics."

Pipe dreams

Agriculture water is only part of the solution. Water officials are looking at three different projects to suck water it owns but is not using from various rivers running through the state.

For the most part, efforts are focused on the roughly 420,000 acre-feet of water going unused down the Green and Colorado rivers, and another 250,000 acre-feet in the Bear River. Another 120,000 acre-feet of water can be developed from other rivers, but this is less likely, given current economics, to make its way to heavily populated areas.

Combined, the 790,000 acre-feet of river water is 87 percent of the 904,000 acre-feet used today by all cities and towns. And it is more than the 646,000 acre-feet of increased water needs projected by 2050.

The stumbling block is money. One proposal calls for building a water pipeline from Lake Powell to the fast-growing St. George area ($310 million), another for building a water pipeline from Flaming Gorge to the Wasatch Front ($300 million) and yet another is pumping water from the Bear River into Willard Bay and then piping it to the Wasatch Front ($260 million).

In all, the state has identified $6 billion in water development projects that could be done. But everything is on hold pending legislative decisions on who will pay for the projects and how.

Zack Frankel, executive director of Utah Rivers Council and Utah's most vocal advocate of water conservation, agrees the perception that Utah is running out of water is a "myth." But he diverges from state water planners when it comes to how to meet future demands, instead criticizing the lack of foresight in state policy that has focused on supply rather than demand.