73-10-32 Definitions -- Water conservation plan required.
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2026 GENERAL SESSION STATE OF UTAH Chief Sponsor: Hoang Nguyen Senate Sponsor: Scott D. Sandall
LONG TITLE
General Description:
This bill addresses commitments of water by water providers.
Highlighted Provisions:
This bill:
▸permits a commitment of available water to uses on the Great Salt Lake to be included in
a water conservation plan; and
▸makes technical and conforming changes.
Money Appropriated in this Bill:
None
Other Special Clauses:
None
Utah Code Sections Affected:
AMENDS:
73-10-32 , as last amended by Laws of Utah 2023, Chapters 238, 435
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https://waterrights.utah.gov/GSLDMP/
In early 2026 Utah purchased 144,000 acres worth of water from a magnesium factor as a means of help sourcing water for the GSL
“The salt lake — the largest in the Western Hemisphere — once covered an area larger than Rhode Island. Today, more than half its water is gone. About 800 square miles of lake bed sits exposed, baking in the desert heat, sometimes billowing toxic dust plumes across the state’s urban core.” (this is a large portion of what I will be trying to argue when talking about this bill, in general more of the negative effects on humans and ecosystems)
“Making real headway could require tens of millions of dollars every year. Gov. Spencer Cox requested $16 million this year for the state to buy water leases for the lake, but lawmakers approved only $1 million. The governor also sought $650,000 to monitor and begin mitigating the lake bed’s dust. He got less than a quarter of that.
“The legislative and executive appetite to get water to the lake has absolutely evaporated,” said Ben Abbott, an ecology professor at Brigham Young University and the lead author of a 2023 report warning that the lake could disappear in as little as five years." (this is also another large point that I will be arguing, specifically addressing the severity of the issue and how when actions are taken against climate change – the legislative aspect often takes much of the funding away.)
“Brad Wilson, Utah’s Republican former House speaker, who spearheaded many of the policy changes benefiting the Great Salt Lake, is also a prominent real estate developer — a third of the Legislature has ties to the industry. Housing affordability and water supply will remain the state’s top challenges in perpetuity, he said in an interview.
“We should continue to have a strategy to ensure we have enough water for our growth,” Mr. Wilson said, “so our kids and grandkids can live here.” "(Many of the problems that are faced have to deal with ties to certain industries, law makers are less likely to approve certain things depending on where their businesses lye. We have to confront the issue and realize that if things are not done, than there will be no more Utah, our children and grandchildren will not be able to live here.)
on the uploaded document.
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