The Utah Division of Water Resources recently published an updated water budget for the state. Model inputs were improved, which included a significant increase in depletions in the municipal sector due to improved efficiency of landscape irrigation systems.
This change highlights the “no free lunch” aspect of water management – the best practice of making household landscapes more efficient has the effect of more efficiently using that water and leaving less for the natural environment, including the Great Salt Lake. A recent report on the Great Salt Lake estimated that about 27% of all depletions in the Great Salt Lake Basin were due to municipal use, compared to a previous estimate of only 17%.
The statewide water budget also illustrates the reallocation of water supplies between demand sectors, specifically from agriculture use to municipal & industrial use. Over the past 30 years, agricultural depletions have declined by about 430k AF while M&I depletions have risen by 175k AF, which broadly represents a conversion of land and a reallocation of water rights to feed economic and population growth.
Utah’s water balance model illustrates the challenges of water management in the 21st century, with efficient water use having trade-offs to consider and reallocation of water use in agriculture fueling the economic growth that communities desire. WestWater has helped clients think about these aspects of water management from multiple perspectives; from the irrigation company facing dry-up of its service area to the land developer looking to develop a data center, we understand the value of water and the challenges of water management.