State releases Great Salt Lake distribution plan tool; priority schedule ties diversions to lake elevation

Teresa Wilhelmsen, Utah state engineer and director of the Division of Water Rights, told the Natural Resources committee on Aug. 20 that House Bill 453 (2024) required the state to develop a Great Salt Lake distribution management plan, and the division will meet the statutory deadline for final adoption. Deputy director Blake Bingham summarized the plan and demonstrated a publicly available online tool that tabulates water dedicated to the lake, tracks authorized diversions and applies a priority schedule tied to measured lake elevation.

Under the plan, the state engineer apportions Great Salt Lake water rights (primarily mineral-extraction diversions within the lake meander) according to Utah—s prior-appropriation framework and a lake-elevation priority schedule. Bingham explained the schedule uses the south-arm gauge at Saltair Boat Harbor on June 15 each year to assign a tranche; the tranche then governs which rights may divert in the following calendar year. For example, when the south-arm elevation is at or below 4,193 feet, the plan would not authorize diversions except for mineral producers that have separate voluntary arrangements with the Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands.

Bingham showed summary tables in the tool listing currently authorized diversions and the compilation of dedicated water. As of the draft tabulation presented to the committee, roughly 288,000 acre-feet of water had been authorized for dedication to the lake via change applications; the reporting tool distinguishes authorized/dedicated amounts from water actually delivered. Bingham said the tool accounts for lake volume, salinity and evaporative loss so it can show the volumetric effect of water delivered or of diversions curtailed by the priority schedule.

The plan does not create a priority call upstream of the lake meander line; it governs diversions within the lake itself. The plan also recognizes voluntary arrangements: mineral extractors that enter a voluntary agreement with Forestry, Fire and State Lands and file a change application can follow a separate schedule that may allow limited diversion at lower elevations in exchange for converting other water volumes to dedicated lake water.

Process and next steps: the division held public input and posted a draft plan and the distribution-accounting tool; the division notified the public of its intent to adopt the plan and has scheduled final adoption for Oct. 1, 2025. The statute provides a 60-day judicial-review window after adoption. The division told the committee that it will continue to update the plan and the tool as change applications are approved and as reported diversions are submitted.

Why it matters: the plan implements a statutory framework to prioritize use of water on the lake during low-water conditions, provides public transparency about how water has been dedicated to the lake, and creates an operational schedule agencies and industry can use to forecast diversions and plan mitigation.