Utah launches $50 million Great Salt Lake water-delivery program with three funding tracks

The Great Salt Lake Commissioner’s Office on Tuesday detailed a $50,000,000 grant from the Bureau of Reclamation, funded through the Inflation Reduction Act, to finance projects intended to deliver water to Great Salt Lake.

Deputy Commissioner Hannah Friese told the Great Salt Lake Advisory Council the program is organized into three funding “buckets”: voluntary water transactions, system conservation (infrastructure projects) and ecosystem and habitat restoration. “We’re looking for large volume, at a minimum of 1,000 acre-feet or more” for voluntary transactions, she said, adding that those transactions require an approved change application with the Division of Water Rights and the state engineer.

Friese said the ecosystem and habitat restoration bucket will mirror the Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Trust’s work and will prioritize projects located within seven miles of the lake’s meander line. The other two buckets are eligible basin-wide if projects can credibly deliver water to the lake.

Applications will open next week and close on Sept. 15, with grant selections anticipated in November; Friese said the program’s web pages will be live by July 15. She cautioned that the award must be fully expended by 2030 under the Reclamation terms. “These funds need to be expended by 2030,” Friese said.

The office said it will prioritize projects that can demonstrate reasonable delivery of water to Great Salt Lake, are sustainable long term and are shovel-ready so the funds can be obligated in time. Friese added that the grant has no formal match requirement, though match funding is preferred.

Council members pressed for geographic clarity. Brad Perry asked whether projects farther upstream in the basin would be eligible; Friese answered that system-conservation and transaction projects across the basin will be considered if they can deliver water to the lake, while the ecosystem bucket is limited to the seven‑mile radius.

Friese also described early progress on leases and producer outreach: staffer Aspen Johnston secured roughly 2,000 acre-feet from the Salt Lake and Utah Canal, and the office is developing a “mortgage calculator” to help agricultural producers evaluate the financial tradeoffs of leasing water.

The council discussed adding agricultural representation and stressed the need to account for crop-specific constraints, noting, for example, the time and cost to replant long-lived crops such as alfalfa.

The commissioner’s office will also solicit council input during a planned strategic-plan check-in covering 1‑year and 1–5‑year goals. Friese said further details and the RFP materials will be posted on the program website when it goes live.

Action items from the meeting: the council approved the meeting agenda and prior meeting notes and later adjourned; no board vote on specific grant awards was taken at this session.