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Commission backs local water changes for Washington County to protect Virgin River supplies
Summary
The Legislative Water Development Commission gave a favorable recommendation to a narrowly tailored bill from Rep. Jack that would exempt certain district-owned rights from a 40-year rule and bar private water-right owners from using in‑stream flow changes that could remove water from Utah’s Lower Colorado-basin portions of Washington and Kane counties.
Representative Jack and a Washington County water expert told the commission on Jan. 9 that a small, geographically targeted change would give local water managers more flexibility to manage scarce supplies on the Virgin River.
Zach Renstrom of the Washington County Water Conservancy District said the county treats all sources as a single "one-water" supply and expects more than half of future local supplies to come from reuse. He described two main effects of the draft: removing a 40‑year administrative constraint for certain district-owned rights so the district can repurpose its water holdings, and preventing private water-right holders from converting rights into in‑stream flow protections that could effectively move water out of the state or the management partnership in that basin.
Commissioners asked technical and legal questions about how the proposal would interact with existing change-of-use procedures and the state engineer’s protest process. Renstrom said the change would not alter the mechanics of filing a change application; instead, the state engineer would treat in‑stream flow as a non‑beneficial use for private owners under the draft and thus deny those particular change applications. Representative Jack emphasized the bill was surgical and intended only for the Lower Basin portions of Washington and Kane counties.
Senator Ibsen moved for a favorable recommendation and colleagues from across the state voiced support for deferring to local delegation expertise. The commission voted unanimously to move the bill forward and staff offered to prepare a committee substitute that would record the commission’s action in the bill text.
What happens next: the sponsor will refine language as needed and the bill will proceed through the Legislature with the commission’s positive recommendation.
