Let's protect and restore our water resources
Water is a precious resource here in Utah, supporting every aspect of our lives, from the water you use at home, to the water we use to grow food, to the water that supports our multi-billion dollar recreation industry. Yet, we don't have a single legislator with expertise in water. I think it's time we had a water expert in the legislature.
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There is a lot our legislature should be doing to be better stewards of water in Utah. Despite spending a lot of taxpayer money in 2022 and 2023, the legislature has failed to fix the major structural problems in Utah's water policy. We remain at risk of losing the Great Salt Lake, restoration of Utah Lake has been stalled by the legislature pursuing fantasy-land ideas of giving the lake to developers to build artificial islands, even beautiful Bear Lake is experiencing problems with algal blooms and invasive species. We are still dealing with many outdated water laws that incentivize waste. And our state agencies lack basic resources needed to monitor and manage our water throughout the state. We need more legislators who know more, and care more, about water.
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How can we fix our water problems? What will I advocate for?
​The current drought is putting a lot of stress on our water resources and ecosystems. But the more near-term problem is that the state has created too much bureaucracy over who manages different kinds of water and ultimately the state has over-allocated water rights. When water rights are issued, people build their livelihoods around it. When the water rights can't be filled or have to be rescinded, people get hurt and there are damaging ripple effects in our economy and communities. I will advocate for legislation that ensures the state takes a more conservative approach to allocating new water rights, so people who have water know they can count on keeping it.
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Another large, fixable problem with how the state deals with water is that we have created artificial boundaries between groundwater and surface water. In reality, water doesn't work that way...it's all the same water and what happens underground affects surface water and vice versa. Currently, one person's surface water right may be sucked dry by someone else's groundwater pumping. I will advocate for legislation that moves us in the direction of 'one water', incentivizing better integrated management of our surface water and groundwater, source water, storm water, and waste water.
