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Dry fact: water rights may go
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| Contributor | particleman |
| Last Edited | particleman Sep 19, 2003 03:05pm |
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| Category | News |
| Media | Newspaper - Salt Lake Tribune |
| News Date | Friday, September 19, 2003 06:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | A plummeting water table in southwestern Utah and an overrationed aquifer in Salt Lake County are prompting the state to consider taking away water rights -- a measure that in the West is akin to heresy.
State Engineer Jerry Olds on Wednesday told lawmakers that the Beryl-Enterprise Aquifer, which straddles Iron and Washington counties, is being depleted rapidly as farmers pump out about three times more water than nature puts into the ground each year.
Olds, tasked with granting and regulating water rights, asked the Legislature to change state law to clarify his authority to redistribute groundwater rights according to supply of water and the doctrine of "priority rights," also known as "first in time, first in line."
In other words, water rights could be taken away from water users who acquired them in recent years, while those with older water rights would be less likely to lose them. Water rights holders who use the water for domestic "in-house" purposes would be exempt. |
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