Farmers' water rights may be cut

PROVO — Changes in Utah water law and curtailment of some existing water rights are likely ahead as Utah deals with a historic overallocation of its water resources.

Some areas of Utah have more water rights than water, which has allowed pumping to exceed the natural recharging of aquifers, said State Engineer Jerry Olds in a speech to the Utah Farm Bureau Federation on Friday.

Areas that will likely be hardest hit include Salt Lake, Davis and western Iron counties along with the Milford area in Beaver County.

Much of the overallocation occurred during the late 1940s and early 1950s as Utah developed much of its current water resources. Water officials had limited aquifer data at that time, Olds said.

"They overshot in some cases," Olds said. He said the state now has a better handle on how much water is actually left in Utah's aquifers.

Olds said the challenge now will be to determine how best to administer existing water rights based on the overallocations. That likely means changes in water law, including reallocating some rights.

"This could have far-reaching ramifications," Olds said.

Wes Clinton, vice president for public policy for the farm bureau, said there is "no question" that such reallocations and law changes will affect agriculture. Farmers have large investments in equipment and land that could be hurt if water rights are curtailed.

"The question is how and who should take on the burden (of such changes)," Clinton told the Deseret Morning News. "Who gets cut back? Will it be by appropriation — first in time, first in right — or by proportion, where every farmer takes a hit?"

Olds said the Legislature's Natural Resources Interim Committee will be asked to address the topic later this year.

The area around Hill Air Force Base in northern Davis County is showing the largest aquifer decline in Utah, while the Milford area also shows steep declines, Olds said. Salt Lake Valley is overallocated by six times, he added.

Western Iron County poses special problems in groundwater management with 80,000 acre feet pumped having been pumped from local aquifers each year and replaced by just over 33,000 acre feet of water annually over the past 10 years, Olds said. Farmers hold rights for the water, but the area is overallocated, Olds said.