This story is jointly published by nonprofits Amplify Utah and Utah News Dispatch, along with The Great Salt Lake Collaborative, a solutions journalism partnership to inform the public about the crisis facing The Great Salt Lake.

The House Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee voted to amend Utah’s conservation requirements Wednesday, allowing water suppliers to include the Great Salt Lake in their conservation plans. The proposal gives providers the option to redirect conserved water to the lake, in addition to existing conservation requirements.

The committee’s unanimous approval is sending HB296, sponsored by Rep. Hoang Nguyen, D-Salt Lake City, to the House floor. The bill drew bipartisan support after the Great Salt Lake reached its third-lowest water levels on record in 2025.

“This change will help water suppliers account for water that’s committed to (the) Great Salt Lake in the development and implementation of conservation goals and strategies,” Nguyen told the committee. “The most important thing is it will also help improve accountability and transparency to the public as water suppliers continue to undertake policies and actions to (save) Great Salt Lake.”

HB296 amends existing law that requires providers — including retail water suppliers and conservancy districts — to present clearly stated conservation goals, provide public notice and officially adopt those goals.

In an interview with Utah News Dispatch, Nguyen emphasized the bill doesn’t require conserved water be sent to the Great Salt Lake, but instead gives “water conservation districts a little bit more leeway to be able to start looking at how they play into the Great Salt Lake.”

Nguyen says ‘it’s mission critical’ to save the lake

Laura Briefer is the director of Salt Lake City’s Department of Public Utilities, a body she said provides “drinking water to nearly 400,000 people in the Salt Lake Valley.” Briefer said the bill takes an important step in addressing the lake’s dwindling levels, which could present an ecological crisis.

“This imbalance poses existential risks to the lake and economic, environmental and public health risks to our greater community,” she said. “One of the most important ways to ensure that more water makes its way to Great Salt Lake is to reduce water demand and commit those water savings to Great Salt Lake.”

Briefer noted that the bill “could lead to other important policies that would protect the future of Great Salt Lake,” and “ensure those (conservation) goals and strategies are transparent to the public.”

Salt Lake City’s Department of Public Utilities is required to make long-term projections for water accessibility based on growth and available supply. Briefer said those projections show conservation will become the only option for diverting water to the lake by 2060.

“Based on our long-range water supply and demand planning out to the year 2060, we actually don’t have excess water for growth,” she said. “By the year 2060, Salt Lake City for its projected population and land use is about at the limits of those water supplies. And so one of the ways in which we would be able to commit more water to Great Salt Lake is to increase conservation.”

Nguyen has high hopes for HB296 after it received unanimous support from the committee. She said she expects the bill to pass, as there is no cost associated with its implementation.

“I think it’s such a simple bill, especially where there’s no fiscal note. It should go through,” Nguyen said. “We’re going to work with Salt Lake City, and I’m speaking with some of the committee members ahead of time to give them a heads up on what’s coming. I’m hopeful.”

Will Ruzanski is the 2026 legislative intern for Utah News Dispatch and Amplify Utah. A Montana native and journalism student at the University of Utah, he has a passion for enjoying and covering the environment.

Utah News Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

wruzanski@utahnewsdispatch.com | w.ruzanski@dailyutahchronicle.com