State engineer staff seeks to add Lakeside Irrigation Company to Spanish Fork distribution system

Assistant State Engineer Nathan Moses told the Spanish Fork River committee at a Division of Water Rights meeting that the division intends to modify the Spanish Fork Field of Distribution System to add Lakeside Irrigation Company under rule R655-15.

The change would make Lakeside an official account holder in the Spanish Fork distribution system, give it a committee seat and require it to maintain measurement devices and pay annual assessments. Nathan Moses said the modification would be formalized by an order of the state engineer and that the meeting on the proposal was a forum for explanation and public comment, not a vote: "We will not take a vote," he said.

Why it matters: Committee members and Division staff said bringing Lakeside into the distribution system should increase transparency about diversions and help the commissioner and the state track how much water passes and is used at Lakeside’s diversion. Division staff and committee members repeatedly linked the proposal to the need for measurement data to support recent change and municipal diversion approvals and to clarify Lakeside’s previously unresolved use history.

Division staff summarized Lakeside’s recorded water-right history for attendees. The company’s water-right record appears under number 5619 and is represented in the division’s files by a diligence claim…