2022 Legislation: Water Bills That Did Not Pass

The 2022 Utah legislative session has ended. Here are summaries of the water-related bills that did not pass through the legislature. As we have seen in the past, some of these bills may be re-introduced in future legislative sessions.

HB 64 (2nd Substitute): Drinking Water Amendments
Rep. Christine F. Watkins

The Division of Drinking Water engaged in an extensive study and outreach process to determine how best to fund badly needed increases in capacity to implement the Safe Drinking Water Act. House Bill 64 creates a new restricted Drinking Water Capacity Account. The bill authorizes the State Division of Finance to transfer approximately $1.6 million into the account. The account funds may be used for compliance, planning, and technical assistance for public water systems.

To read the full text of the bill, click here.

HB 95 (3rd Substitute): Landscaping Requirements Prohibition
Rep. Raymond P. Ward

House Bill 95 prohibits municipalities, counties, and homeowner associations from requiring the planting and maintaining of lawn or turf through ordinances, resolutions, or policies. Municipalities, counties, and homeowner associations are also required to provide property owners with landscaping alternatives to be used in place of lawn or turf. 

To read the full text of the bill, click here.

HB 115 (amended): Water Distribution Efficiency
Rep. Melissa G. Ballard

House Bill 115 requires water distributors—defined as retail water suppliers with at least 500 connections and water conservancy districts—to adopt standards defining what constitutes an acceptable annual water loss. The water distributors must then prepare annual reports for their governing bodies detailing the amount of water lost within their systems. If the loss is greater than the standard adopted by the governing body, the governing body must implement one or more processes to address the loss. These processes include water loss audits, leak detection procedures, infrastructure assessment and replacement plans, and meter accuracy assessments. The Division of Water Resources must also post annual summaries of the water loss data which is currently being reported by water distributors to the Division of Water Rights.

To read the full text of the bill, click here.

HB 129: Navigable Water Determinations
Rep. Timothy D. Hawkes

House Bill 129 makes changes to the definition of “navigable water” in Utah. The amended statutory definition is “a water course that at the time of Utah's statehood, was used, or susceptible of being used, in its ordinary condition, as a highway for commerce, over which trade and travel were or may have been conducted in the customary modes of trade and travel on water.” The bill also establishes a process through the Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands to conduct an administrative proceeding to determine whether a specific waterway is a navigable water. The process would include notice to affected landowners and to the general public, along with a 60-day comment period. The Division would issue a report with a detailed description of the evidence and a recommendation regarding a determination of navigability. There would then be a 30-day comment period on the report and recommendation, after which the Division would issue a final determination. The final determination can be appealed to the district court for de novo review. The Division is required to maintain and publish a complete list of all public waters in the state that have been determined to be navigable.

To read the full text of the bill, click here.

HB 271: Water Releases Amendments
Rep. Karianne Lisonbee

House Bill 271 provides that an operator of a dam or reservoir on the Provo River or Weber River may not increase the flow rate from the dam or reservoir by more than 25% every 15 minutes. The operator may make the first release to a minimum safe level for the applicable dam or reservoir, and then comply with the provision in the prior sentence.

To read the full text of the bill, click here.

HB 343: Water Supply Amendments
Rep. Phil Lyman

House Bill 343 establishes rules and regulations for a municipality to provide water to contract users outside of the municipality’s boundaries. The bill requires a municipality to provide adequate water service to contract water customers, and apply water restrictions in times of water shortages, in a manner consistent with equal protection. The bill also requires a municipality to provide retail water service to subdivision lots under certain circumstances, and a failure to do so would result in a taking by the municipality. The bill also provides guidelines for how a municipality may establish different water rights for different classifications of contract water customers.

To read the full text of the bill, click here.

S.B. 73: Flow Rates or Quantity for Plumbing Fixtures
Sen. Jani Iwamoto

Senate Bill 73 amends the residential plumbing code to require water efficient water fixtures for new construction. Specifically, it would set the flow rates for lavatory faucets at 1.5 gpm at 60 psi, shower heads at 2 gpm at 80 psi, and toilets at 1.28 per flushing cycle. Urinals would also be required to comply with a requirement of 0.5 gallon per flushing cycle.

To read the full text of the bill, click here.