The three bills, in full

BASIN EVAPORATIVE LOSS AMENDMENTS

LONG TITLE

General Description:
        This bill enacts a minimum charge for water of the Great Salt Lake basin that is
withdrawn by a metered user and lost to evaporation.

Highlighted Provisions:
        This bill:
        ▸ requires a metered user whose payments for evaporatively lost water total less
than the reference rate to pay the difference;
        ▸ measures evaporative loss as withdrawal, less return, less water embodied in a
product;
        ▸ applies without regard to the destination, ownership or intended market of any
product;
        ▸ applies only to users whose withdrawal and return are measured, and expressly
does not apply to use determined by estimate or coefficient;
        ▸ provides that this bill does not limit, condition, curtail or forfeit a water
right; and
        ▸ deposits collections in the Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Program.

Money Appropriated in this Bill:
        None

Utah Code Sections Affected:
ENACTS:
        73-32-401 through 73-32-405, Utah Code Annotated 1953

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:

Section 1. Section 73-32-401 is enacted to read:

Part 4. Evaporative Loss

73-32-401. Definitions.
        As used in this part:
        (1) "Basin" means the Great Salt Lake watershed as defined in Section 65A-16-101.
        (2) "Evaporative loss" means, for a metered user and a calendar year, the volume of
water withdrawn from within the basin, less the volume returned by that user to the waters
of the basin, less the volume embodied in a product sold or shipped by that user.
        (3) "Metered user" means a person whose withdrawal and return are measured by
device, including a person served by a public water supplier, and does not include a person
whose use is determined by crop coefficient, evapotranspiration model, or other estimate.
        (4) "Reference rate" means the highest volumetric rate charged during the preceding
calendar year by a public water supplier in the basin to commercial and industrial
customers.
        (5) "Amount paid" means the total a metered user paid during the calendar year for
the water constituting that user's evaporative loss, including amounts paid to a public
water supplier, an irrigation company, a water conservancy district, or as an assessment
against a water right.

Section 2. Section 73-32-402 is enacted to read:

73-32-402. Minimum charge for evaporative loss.
        (1) The Legislature finds that:
                (a) water withdrawn within the basin and returned to it remains available to
the basin;
                (b) water withdrawn within the basin and embodied in a product leaves the
basin in that product;
                (c) water withdrawn within the basin and lost to evaporation is not
available to the basin and does not return to it, without regard to where any product
goes; and
                (d) a price that does not distinguish evaporative loss from other use
charges the basin for the difference.
        (2) If a metered user's amount paid is less than the reference rate multiplied by
that user's evaporative loss, the user shall pay the difference.
        (3) The obligation under Subsection (2) applies without regard to:
                (a) the destination, market, or purchaser of any product;
                (b) whether a product is sold, used or consumed inside or outside the basin;
                (c) the product, crop, animal, beverage, container or process involved;
                (d) the residence, citizenship or place of organization of the user; or
                (e) the identity, priority date or seniority of any water right.
        (4) Money collected under this section shall be deposited in the Great Salt Lake
Watershed Enhancement Program created in Section 65A-16-201.

Section 3. Section 73-32-403 is enacted to read:

73-32-403. Measurement.
        (1) Evaporative loss is determined by measurement. A user shall report, and the
state engineer may verify:
                (a) metered withdrawal;
                (b) metered return to the waters of the basin;
                (c) the volume embodied in a product, from the user's own production
records; and
                (d) for an impoundment, evaporative loss determined by water balance from
gauged stage, metered inflow and outflow, and recorded precipitation.
        (2) A person whose use is not measured is not subject to this part.

Section 4. Section 73-32-404 is enacted to read:

73-32-404. Exclusions and savings.
        (1) This part does not apply to:
                (a) water conveyed into the basin from outside it, or the use of that water;
                (b) water used for human consumption, sanitation, or food service;
                (c) fire suppression, including the charging and testing of a system; or
                (d) a use during a state of emergency declared under Title 53, Chapter 2a.
        (2) Nothing in this part:
                (a) limits, conditions, curtails, forfeits or reduces a water right;
                (b) requires a change application under Section 73-3-3;
                (c) prohibits the production, sale, export or import of any crop, animal or
product;
                (d) requires a person to purchase water the person is entitled to divert; or
                (e) authorizes the state engineer to deny an application by reason of this
part.

Section 5. Section 73-32-405 is enacted to read:

73-32-405. Rulemaking and publication.
        (1) The state engineer shall make rules under Title 63G, Chapter 3, Utah
Administrative Rulemaking Act, establishing:
                (a) metering, reporting and verification standards;
                (b) the water balance method for an impoundment;
                (c) the manner of determining embodied volume from production records; and
                (d) a de minimis threshold below which this part does not apply.
        (2) The state engineer shall publish the reference rate on or before January 31 of
each year.
        (3) This part applies to evaporative loss occurring on or after January 1, 2030.

Section 6. Effective date.

        This bill takes effect on May 4, 2028.

AGRICULTURAL WATER TRANSITION AMENDMENTS

LONG TITLE

General Description:
        This bill creates a program to pay the capital cost of converting irrigated
agricultural land to a use that depletes less water, to lend the balance at a reduced rate, and
to lease the water so freed.

Highlighted Provisions:
        This bill:
        ▸ creates the Agricultural Water Transition Program;
        ▸ provides transition grants by tier, determined by verified reduction in depletion
and by the capital required, and not by the crop or product produced;
        ▸ creates a revolving loan fund at a rate of three percent;
        ▸ provides for the annual lease of water freed by a conversion, and directs that water
instream to the Great Salt Lake;
        ▸ provides that a conversion under this part is not non-use for purposes of
forfeiture; and
        ▸ appropriates money.

Money Appropriated in this Bill:
        This bill appropriates:
        ▸ $218,650,000 as a one-time appropriation from the General Fund for fiscal year
2028, to the Agricultural Water Transition Program;
        ▸ $103,350,000 as a one-time appropriation from the General Fund for fiscal year
2028, to the Agricultural Water Transition Revolving Loan Fund; and
        ▸ $22,900,000 as an ongoing appropriation from the General Fund, beginning in
fiscal year 2029, for leases under Section 73-10g-305.

Other Special Clauses:
        None

Utah Code Sections Affected:
AMENDS:
        73-1-4, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2024
        65A-16-201, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2023
ENACTS:
        73-10g-301, 73-10g-302, 73-10g-303, 73-10g-304, 73-10g-305, 73-10g-306,
                Utah Code Annotated 1953

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:

Section 1. Section 73-10g-301 is enacted to read:

Part 3. Agricultural Water Transition

73-10g-301. Definitions.
        As used in this part:
        (1) "Basin" means the Great Salt Lake watershed as defined in Section 65A-16-101.
        (2) "Conversion" means a change in the use of a converted acre that results in a
verified reduction in depletion, and that does not consist solely of a change in the method of
irrigation.
        (3) "Converted acre" means an acre of land within the basin that:
                (a) was irrigated in at least five of the seven calendar years preceding the
application; and
                (b) is the subject of an agreement under Section 73-10g-302.
        (4) "Depletion" means water consumed and not returned to the basin, determined under
Subsection 73-10g-306(1).
        (5) "Freed water" means the reduction in depletion attributable to a conversion,
expressed in acre-feet per year.
        (6) "Program" means the Agricultural Water Transition Program created in Section
73-10g-302.

Section 2. Section 73-10g-302 is enacted to read:

73-10g-302. Agricultural Water Transition Program.
        (1) There is created the Agricultural Water Transition Program, administered by the
department in consultation with the Division of Water Resources and the state engineer.
        (2) The Legislature finds that:
                (a) the capital cost of changing the use of an irrigated acre, and not the
economics of the use itself, is the principal obstacle to a change in use;
                (b) a program that acquires water by ending an agricultural operation acquires
the water once and forecloses the acre; and
                (c) a program that pays the cost of conversion acquires the same water and
leaves an operating farm on the land.
        (3) The department shall enter into an agreement with an applicant that provides for:
                (a) the grant payable under Section 73-10g-303;
                (b) any loan under Section 73-10g-304;
                (c) the lease of freed water under Section 73-10g-305; and
                (d) the term of the agreement, which may not be less than 10 years.
        (4) An agreement under this section is voluntary, and the department may not condition
any other benefit, permit, approval or program eligibility on entering into one.

Section 3. Section 73-10g-303 is enacted to read:

73-10g-303. Transition grants.
        (1) The department shall pay a transition grant per converted acre, not to exceed:
                (a) $500, where the conversion is to perennial cover that is not irrigated after
the establishment period;
                (b) $2,750, where the acre remains in irrigated production and freed water is at
least 0.5 acre-feet per acre per year; or
                (c) $7,000, where the acre remains in irrigated production, freed water is at
least 1.5 acre-feet per acre per year, and the conversion includes a durable improvement to the
soil profile or a permanent structure.
        (2) A grant under this section is determined by the tier under Subsection (1) and by
documented cost, and is not determined by:
                (a) the crop, animal, product or process produced on the converted acre;
                (b) the identity, priority date or seniority of any water right; or
                (c) whether the converted acre produces any marketable product at all.
        (3) A grant may not exceed the documented cost of the conversion.
        (4) The department may pay up to 40% of a grant on execution of the agreement, and the
balance on verification under Section 73-10g-306.
        (5) An establishment period under Subsection (1)(a) may not exceed three irrigation
seasons, and water applied during that period is not a breach of the agreement.

Section 4. Section 73-10g-304 is enacted to read:

73-10g-304. Agricultural Water Transition Revolving Loan Fund.
        (1) There is created an enterprise fund known as the Agricultural Water Transition
Revolving Loan Fund.
        (2) The department may lend from the fund to a person party to an agreement under
Section 73-10g-302, for the acquisition of:
                (a) livestock, plants, trees, equipment, handling facilities or working capital
placed in service on a converted acre; and
                (b) processing, storage, cold chain, packaging or market access capacity, whether
or not located on a converted acre, and whether held individually or through a cooperative,
association or other entity in which the borrower holds an interest.
        (3) The department shall give preference to a loan under Subsection (2)(b), and may accept
a lower ratio of collateral to principal for such a loan, on a finding that the capacity financed
increases the price received by the borrower for a product of the converted acre.
        (4) A loan under this section shall bear interest at three percent per annum, for a term
not exceeding 20 years.
        (5) Repayments of principal and interest shall be deposited in the fund.
        (6) The department may subordinate a loan under this section to a first lien held by a
commercial lender.
        (7) A loan under this section is not secured by, and default on it may not be satisfied
by, a water right.

Section 5. Section 73-10g-305 is enacted to read:

73-10g-305. Lease of freed water.
        (1) The department shall lease the freed water attributable to a converted acre for the
term of the agreement, and shall pay for it annually at the rate published under Subsection (4).
        (2) Water leased under this section shall be:
                (a) assigned to the Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands for the purposes
described in Section 65A-16-201; and
                (b) protected from diversion by an intervening user for the length of the stream
between the converted acre and the Great Salt Lake.
        (3) A lease under this section is a beneficial use of the water leased.
        (4) The Division of Water Resources shall publish, on or before January 31 of each year,
the rate payable under this section, which may not be less than $30 per acre-foot, adjusted
annually for inflation.
        (5) The department shall reduce the payment under this section, pro rata, for any portion
of the freed water that Subsection (2)(b) cannot protect.

Section 6. Section 73-10g-306 is enacted to read:

73-10g-306. Verification and reporting.
        (1) The Division of Water Resources shall determine depletion and freed water by remote
sensing of evapotranspiration, using a published methodology, and not by measurement of
diversion alone.
        (2) The department shall verify each converted acre before paying the balance of a grant,
and at least once every three years thereafter.
        (3) The department shall report annually to the Natural Resources, Agriculture, and
Environment Interim Committee:
                (a) acres converted, by tier;
                (b) freed water, by tier, in acre-feet;
                (c) cost per acre-foot of freed water, by tier, including grants, loans and
leases; and
                (d) the number of agreements terminated, and the reason for each.
        (4) If the cost per acre-foot under Subsection (3)(c) for a tier exceeds the cost of
acquiring an equivalent quantity by purchase of a water right, the department shall state so
plainly in the report.

Section 7. Section 73-1-4 is amended to read:

73-1-4. Reversion to the public by abandonment or forfeiture for nonuse.
        ...
        (2)(e) The period of nonuse described in Subsection (2)(a) does not include a period
during which the water right is subject to an agreement under Section 73-10g-302, or during
which water is leased under Section 73-10g-305.

Section 8. Section 65A-16-201 is amended to read:

65A-16-201. Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Program.
        ...
        ( ) The division may expend money in the program for leases under Section 73-10g-305.

Section 9. Appropriation.

        The following sums of money are appropriated for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2027
and ending June 30, 2028. These are additions to amounts previously appropriated for fiscal year
2028.

        To the Department of Agriculture and Food — Agricultural Water Transition Program
                From the General Fund, one-time                              $218,650,000

        To the Agricultural Water Transition Revolving Loan Fund
                From the General Fund, one-time                              $103,350,000

        The following sums of money are appropriated for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2028
and ending June 30, 2029, and annually thereafter.

        To the Department of Agriculture and Food — leases under Section 73-10g-305
                From the General Fund                                         $22,900,000

Section 10. Effective date.

        This bill takes effect on May 4, 2028.

THERMAL LOAD FACILITY SITING AMENDMENTS

LONG TITLE

General Description:
        This bill enacts siting conditions for large thermal load facilities within the
Great Salt Lake basin, relating to water used for heat rejection, generation and storage
capacity, surface use, and measurement.

Highlighted Provisions:
        This bill:
        ▸ charges, rather than prohibits, the evaporative use of basin water for heat
rejection, and charges treated drinking water at a higher rate;
        ▸ requires a thermal load facility to bring generation and storage sufficient to
serve its own load, at a stated multiple, from renewable sources;
        ▸ requires a facility to place heat rejection and computing equipment below
finished grade, and leaves the use of the surface to the land use authority;
        ▸ requires measurement of withdrawal and return, and presumes unmeasured water
to have been consumed;
        ▸ provides a compliance schedule for a facility already operating under a
published water reduction plan; and
        ▸ deposits collections in the Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Program.

Money Appropriated in this Bill:
        None

Utah Code Sections Affected:
ENACTS:
        54-26-1001 through 54-26-1007, Utah Code Annotated 1953

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:

Section 1. Section 54-26-1001 is enacted to read:

Part 10. Thermal Load Facility Siting

54-26-1001. Definitions.
        Terms defined in Section 54-26-101 apply to this part. In addition, as used in
this part:
        (1) "Basin" means the Great Salt Lake watershed as defined in Section 65A-16-101.
        (2) "Evaporative loss" has the same meaning as in Section 73-32-401.
        (3) "Land use authority" means the same as that term is defined in Section
10-9a-103 or 17-27a-103, as applicable.
        (4) "Potable water" means water treated to the standards established under Title
19, Chapter 4, Safe Drinking Water Act.
        (5) "Potable rate" means the highest volumetric rate charged during the preceding
calendar year by a public water supplier in the basin to residential customers.
        (6) "Reference rate" has the same meaning as in Section 73-32-401.
        (7) "Thermal load facility" means a facility within the basin having an installed
heat rejection capacity of five megawatts or more, including a data center, and does not
include a hospital, a public or private school, a correctional facility, or a residential
building.

Section 2. Section 54-26-1002 is enacted to read:

54-26-1002. Water used for heat rejection.
        (1) A thermal load facility may use water for heat rejection by any means.
        (2) A facility shall pay, for the evaporative loss of water withdrawn from within
the basin, the reference rate for each acre-foot of that loss.
        (3) A facility shall pay, for the evaporative loss of potable water, the potable
rate for each acre-foot of that loss, in place of the amount under Subsection (2).
        (4) An amount owed under this section is reduced by any amount the facility paid
for the same water under Title 73, Chapter 32, Part 4.
        (5) This section does not apply to water conveyed into the basin from outside it;
water recovered and returned to the waters of the basin, including vapor that is condensed
and returned; water used for human consumption, sanitation, or food service at the
facility; fire suppression; or a use during a state of emergency declared under Title 53,
Chapter 2a.
        (6) Money collected under this section shall be deposited in the Great Salt Lake
Watershed Enhancement Program created in Section 65A-16-201.

Section 3. Section 54-26-1003 is enacted to read:

54-26-1003. Generation and storage.
        (1) A thermal load facility shall own, or hold under contract for the life of the
facility, generation capacity deliverable to the serving utility's system from renewable
sources equal to not less than 150% of its
peak load, and energy storage sufficient to serve its peak load for not less than 36 hours.
        (2) "Renewable" has the same meaning as "qualifying energy resource" in Section
54-17-601. "Peak load" means the highest hourly electrical demand of the facility,
determined by measurement after 12 months of operation and by design capacity before that
time.
        (3) A facility may satisfy Subsection (1) by any technology or combination of
technologies, including pumped hydroelectric storage whether at the surface or in existing
underground workings, gravitational storage, compressed air storage, thermal storage,
hydrogen or another chemical carrier, or electrochemical storage of any chemistry. This
subsection is illustrative, and a technology absent from it is not thereby disqualified.
        (4) Nothing in this section requires a particular technology, ownership structure,
or location for capacity held under contract.

Section 4. Section 54-26-1004 is enacted to read:

54-26-1004. Grid support.
        (1) A thermal load facility shall provide for the dispatch of the generation and
storage held under Section 54-26-1003 in support of the serving utility's system, for
compensation, in the agreement required of a large load customer under this chapter.
        (2) Providing dispatch under this section does not make a thermal load facility a
public utility.

Section 5. Section 54-26-1005 is enacted to read:

54-26-1005. Surface use.
        (1) A thermal load facility commencing operation after the effective date of this
part shall place its heat rejection equipment and its computing or process equipment below
finished grade.
        (2) The surface estate above equipment placed under Subsection (1) shall remain
available for non-industrial use, and the use shall be determined by the land use
authority.
        (3) A facility satisfies Subsection (2) by dedicating an easement, covenant or
other instrument of record that runs with the land and is enforceable by the land use
authority.
        (4) Subsection (2) does not require a facility to construct, fund, operate or
maintain a use selected under that subsection, and does not require public access to
security, electrical, mechanical or ventilation appurtenances.
        (5) A facility may retain at the surface only access, ventilation, electrical and
emergency appurtenances; generation and storage permitted under Section 54-26-1003; and an
impoundment used for heat rejection or storage.
        (6) The land use authority may reduce or waive a requirement of this section for a
site where below-grade placement is infeasible by reason of groundwater, bedrock,
subsidence or flood hazard.

Section 6. Section 54-26-1006 is enacted to read:

54-26-1006. Measurement and reporting.
        (1) A thermal load facility shall install and maintain measuring devices recording,
at intervals established by rule, all water withdrawn for use at the facility by source,
all water returned by the facility to the waters of the basin, and for an impoundment
gauged stage, metered inflow and outflow, and recorded precipitation sufficient to
determine evaporative loss by water balance.
        (2) A facility shall report the measurements annually to the state engineer and
shall retain the underlying records for six years.
        (3) The state engineer may inspect a device, a record, or a facility to verify a
measurement reported under this section.
        (4) Water withdrawn by a facility that is not measured under Subsection (1) is
presumed to be consumed in its entirety, and the facility bears the burden of establishing
any lesser amount.

Section 7. Section 54-26-1007 is enacted to read:

54-26-1007. Compliance schedule.
        (1) A facility placed in service before the effective date of this part shall
comply with Sections 54-26-1003 and 54-26-1005 on or before December 31, 2035, and with
Section 54-26-1006 on or before December 31, 2030.
        (2) A facility that, on the effective date of this part, measures its withdrawal
and return and has published a schedule for reducing its evaporative loss shall comply
with Sections 54-26-1003 and 54-26-1005 in accordance with its published schedule.
        (3) A facility proceeding under Subsection (2) that fails to meet its published
schedule is subject to the dates in Subsection (1).
        (4) Nothing in this section relieves a facility of an obligation under Section
54-26-1002.

Section 8. Effective date.

        This bill takes effect on May 6, 2027.