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Grand County opens public hearing on water-preservation plan; some residents press for climate and aquifer language
Summary
Planning staff opened the required public hearing on the county's Water Use and Preservation element of the general plan, which focuses on reducing outdoor water demand and identifying nonpotable alternatives; public commenters urged explicit climate-change language and stronger protections for sole‑source aquifers and local groundwater.
Planning and zoning director Andrew Jackson opened the statutory public hearing for the Water Use and Preservation element and described the element as a policy document rather than a regulation; he emphasized that outdoor irrigation and landscaping are the county’s largest current uses and that conservation and nonpotable sources are central to matching future growth to supply.
Jackson told the commission: "About 3 of every 5 gallons of water our valley uses goes not to our kids' means not to our taps, but to the outdoors to irrigation and landscaping." Public commenters pressed for the plan to recognize climate-change impacts and to add stronger protections for the county’s sole‑source aquifers and water-source protection overlays; speakers also asked that the county coordinate more explicitly with Moab City and local water providers. Staff said written comments would be accepted through the published deadline and that any changes to the element will go through formal hearings before the planning commission and the county commission.
