State reviews proposed water-rights decree for Provo City North; objections due March 19, 2025

The Utah Division of Water Rights held a public meeting on Jan. 9 to review a proposed determination filed Dec. 19, 2024, for the Provo City North subdivision and to explain how rights are described in the proposed determination and attendant hydrographic survey maps. Christopher Stallard, an engineering manager in the division's Adjudication Section, told attendees that objections to the proposed determination are due in Utah district court within 90 days of publication — March 19, 2025.

Why it matters: The proposed determination (PD) is the division's summary of its investigation into existing surface and underground water rights in the Provo River drainage subunit labeled Area 55, Book 7 (often cited as Book 557). The PD and accompanying hydrographic-survey maps are the record the division publishes before unresolved objections are litigated or otherwise resolved in court.

At the meeting, Stallard walked through the PD's principal sections and what water-rights holders should check. He said the PD begins with a title page and a notice to water users that includes the civil case number and instructions for filing objections; the PD was filed with the court on Dec. 19, 2024. The core of the PD is a priority schedule organized by source, followed by detailed descriptions for each water-right number that list owner-of-record, priority date, source (spring, well, river), point of diversion (given in PLSS coordinates), beneficial uses, period of use and place of use. Stallard emphasized that the PD lists owners as they appear on the division's records and that title updates may still be necessary.

Stallard described how quantities are shown: rights are listed either as a flow rate (cubic feet per second) or an annual volume (acre-feet). He said irrigation season definitions commonly in the PD run April 1 to Oct. 31 and that water-use groups are used to show how multiple water rights may combine to serve the same place of use. The division also publishes hydrographic survey (HS) maps, Stallard said, which in this book run 18 pages and show mapped irrigated polygons, a legend keyed to water-use-group numbers, and inset location maps to help rights holders confirm mapped acreage and which water-right numbers the polygons are tied to.

Stallard explained the division's review of forfeiture under state law: Utah law permits partial or full forfeiture when a right has not been used for seven years. He said the PD publishes rights the division found to be fully forfeited; partial forfeiture determinations and other field-review findings are explained in the State Engineer's memoranda sent to claimants during the investigation. "It should be listing what you're entitled to use," Stallard said of the PD entries, adding that partial forfeiture can change a listed amount and that those details are in the investigation memos.

During a short question-and-answer period, a resident asked whether the quantity listed in the PD reflected the original amount of the right. Stallard repeated that the PD shows the amount the division determined the owner is entitled to; he said partial forfeiture can reduce an amount and that the PD itself primarily lists fully forfeited rights where applicable. He offered to look up specific rights for attendees and to provide the division's memoranda and recommendations to anyone who did not receive them during field review.

Stallard reminded the audience that the Provo River decree (1921) and an earlier Rock Canyon decree (1894) remain part of the legal background the adjudication must respect where applicable. He also provided contact information and said the meeting recording and materials would be posted to the division's YouTube channel.

No formal votes or court actions occurred at the meeting; the session was informational and focused on how rights are described in the PD and how to file objections.

The division filed the PD on Dec. 19, 2024; rights holders or interested parties wishing to object must file in the district court with the civil case number noted on the PD so that objections arrive by March 19, 2025. Stallard and Assistant State Engineer Chase McDonald were listed as contact points for follow-up questions and individual rights lookups.