Division of Water Rights summarizes recent bills on water rights, brine mining, metering and river commissioners

Cash Stallings, regional engineer for the Utah Division of Water Rights, gave the Southeastern Utah Watershed Council a legislative briefing on April 14 that summarized about 10 bills and one budget appropriation the division is tracking.

Stallings said the session produced multiple clarifying amendments and new statutory frameworks that have direct application to the region. He described several items as follows:

- State water policy amendments: clarified the role of watershed activities and emphasized groundwater quality and sensible wastewater reuse.

- Water-right application amendments: tightened deadlines and clarified when water rights lapse, how they may be reinstated and the state engineer's authority, including potential reduction of priority dates when reinstated.

- Livestock watering and nonuse filings: removed an older livestock-watering certificate category, created a pathway for permittees to file nonuse applications to protect water portions during temporary nonuse, and provided statutory clarity for certain federal reserve-style claims (sometimes tied to an executive order the presenter identified from 1927) so the state engineer knows the…