State engineer reviews Provo City South proposed water-rights determination; objections due June 18

Chase McDonald, assistant state engineer over adjudication, reviewed the proposed determination and hydrographic survey for the Provo City South subdivision and told attendees that objections to the proposed determination must be filed with the court by June 18.

The proposed determination, compiled after claim investigations in the Provo City South book, is intended to form part of the court's comprehensive decree of water rights for the drainage. "What a general adjudication does is it joins all water users within a drainage and the state engineer as parties to litigation to obtain a final comprehensive decree of all water rights within that drainage," Chase McDonald said. He said the proposed determination was published on March 20 and opened a 90-day objection period that ends June 18.

McDonald (with Michael Ferguson, assistant attorney general, and adjudication engineers Kate and Andrea present) summarized the adjudication timeline and components of the proposed determination. He said the adjudication process in Utah is detailed in Utah Code Title 73, Chapter 4 and typically proceeds in phases: an initiation phase (the transcript references an initiation phase in summer 2019), a claim-filing phase…