Utah Rivers Council

Utah Rivers Council Protect, Restore, Explore - A Grassroots Voice for Utah's Rivers https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=XX6ES4ENDSRRY

06/04/2026

Your Colorado River water leaders have buried their heads in the sand and created a crisis for the entire Colorado River Basin.

For decades, the seven states of the Colorado River Basin have been taking more water from the river and its tributaries than actually exists. Climate change has shortened our winters and diminished the size of our snowpack, so the Colorado River’s flows have declined 20% over the last 25 years compared to the 20th century.

These are the reasons America’s two largest reservoirs – Lake Mead and Lake Powell – have been shrinking for decades. Powell is now at 24% of its capacity, and Mead is at 30%. Earlier this year, the Bureau of Reclamation forecast that Lake Powell’s water levels would drop so low that hydropower would have to be shut off inside Glen Canyon Dam in 2026. Water managers have delayed this inevitable disaster by taking water out of Upper Basin reservoirs like Flaming Gorge to try and prop up Lake Powell’s water levels.

This has delayed the impacts of this gigantic crisis, but it is still coming because Glen Canyon Dam’s infrastructure was not designed with climate change in mind. The dam’s hydropower tubes are the only way to deliver enough water to satisfy water delivery agreements in the 1922 and 1948 Water Compacts, so turning off the hydro means that Upper Basin states won’t be able to fulfill their mandatory water delivery obligations to the 25 million people downstream.

If water leaders had acted to solve this plumbing problem, we could be working towards a solution now. Instead, we continue to waste precious time because water leaders refuse to acknowledge the realities of climate change. We’re now facing the penalty for their climate change denial.

Glen Canyon Dam has become a liability to sound water management in the Colorado River Basin. Now is the time to retrofit the dam instead of just crossing our fingers and hoping for a big winter.

Visit utahrivers.org to learn more.

05/28/2026

Are Utah’s alfalfa farmers causing the decline of the Great Salt Lake?

On this episode of Liquid Courage, Joe talks about farming’s impacts on the Great Salt Lake, a program that was meant to help, and what needs to be fixed so it actually does.

Agricultural water is diverted in unlined dirt canals that were constructed in the 19th and early 20th century, so lots of the water is lost to seepage and evaporation. We can invest in simple improvements to reduce water waste in agriculture, but most farmers don’t have the money to modernize their water delivery systems.

States like Oregon and Washington reward taxpayers for investing in farm efficiency by providing instream flows in direct proportion to how much money taxpayers put into their programs. If taxpayers put in half the cost of the efficiency improvement, then half the saved water can be used for instream flows.

In 2019, the Utah Legislature created a similar program, called Agricultural Optimization, and funded it with several hundred million dollars. Some elected officials have claimed the program will save the Great Salt Lake.

Unfortunately, Utah’s Agricultural Optimization program doesn’t require even one drop of saved water to go to the Great Salt Lake. Instead, the farmers keep all the water that taxpayers helped save, and they can sell it to developers for data centers, strip malls, or anything else.

Fixing Utah’s Agricultural Optimization program to guarantee that saved water gets sent to the Great Salt Lake is one of the policies in our 4,200 Project. This change could help bring the Great Salt Lake back from the brink of collapse, and it would go a long way towards restoring it.

Visit greatsaltlakewaterkeeper.org to learn more.

05/21/2026

We need to know who is working to dry up the Great Salt Lake inside Utah government. Please, help us bring transparency to Utah by submitting a GRAMA request by downloading the GRAMA request form at this link: https://tinyurl.com/eka8aecv

Complete the form and email it to [email protected] and [email protected]. They may ask you to pay a fee, so we’ve also included a fee waiver form in that link.

When they send you the requested files, please send them back to us at [email protected].

The Box Elder County data center could be just the beginning of a massive industrial park that could grow over time, which would explain why there was interest in drying up the North Arm of the Great Salt Lake last August.

The data center is proposed just a few miles from the North Arm. In October, legislators voted on a bill that in its first version would have completely dried up the North Arm, which represents 40% of the entire lake.

The Legislature also passed House Bill 60, the bill to dry up the Great Salt Lake, before we knew about the data center. This law weakened existing regulations on new water rights. Like we said last time, this law makes it harder to protest the water rights for the data center in court.

Together, we’re going to get to the bottom of this, bring transparency to Utah, and save the Great Salt Lake.

05/13/2026

Please help us save the Great Salt Lake and get to the bottom of this critical issue by submitting a public information request (aka a GRAMA request) to find out what Utah legislators knew when they voted on HB 60. This bill made it easier to approve the water rights for this disastrous new data center. Be aware that they may ask for a fee to make copies or find correspondence, which is why we suggest you ask them to waive the fee.

To submit your GRAMA request, copy and personalize the text below, and then email it to your Utah legislator:

Dear [legislator name],

In accordance with the Government Records and Management Act (“GRAMA”), U.C.A. 63-2-204 et seq., I hereby request that you and any other custodian of public records provide all correspondence to you and your intern about House Bill 60 and the proposed Stratos data center during the 2026 Legislative Session.

The terms “custodian” and “public records” are used in this letter as they are defined in the Act. In the event that you or the official custodian of the requested records determines that a particular piece of data or document is not a public record or that inspection and copying need not or may not be allowed under the terms of the GRAMA, please identify the specific data item or document at issue and state in writing the grounds for the decision to deny access for inspection and copying. I respectfully request a fee waiver for this request because this information is in the public interest since the proposed data center will use massive quantities of water and energy and the public should have access to the information used to justify passage of HB 60.

Please provide your response within ten business days after receipt of this request or five days if you determine that the request falls within the expedited public interest timeframe pursuant to U.C.A. § 63-204(3)(a). If the custodian finds that the agency does not maintain the particular record, please notify me where it may be located as provided by U.C.A. § 63-2-204(3)(a)(i-iii).

I believe this information will serve the greater public interest by allowing for better transparency. Thank you in advance for your assistance with this request.

Sincerely,
[your name]
[your address]
[your email address]
[your phone number]

05/07/2026

In so-called conservative Utah, your taxes have been drying up the Great Salt Lake for decades.

In this episode of Liquid Courage, Joe talks about Utah’s property taxes that incentivize large landowners to waste Great Salt Lake water on Kentucky Bluegrass.

Utah’s water districts collect a property tax on housing, automobiles, and businesses, and these taxes are used to lower the price of Utah’s municipal water. Cheap water incentivizes water waste, because the lower the price of a commodity, the more people consume it. This is why Utah is the country’s most wasteful per capita municipal water user.

The property taxes Utahns pay subsidize the water waste of many large water users, especially those exempt from taxes, like public schools, churches, and universities.

For example, the University of Utah is the biggest water user in Salt Lake City, with most of the water used on ornamental grass landscapes. But the U doesn’t pay one cent in property taxes. That’s why taxpayers are incentivizing the U to waste water.

Phasing out these property taxes for water could reduce municipal water demand upstream of the Great Salt Lake by 20% or more. If that saved water was left in the rivers that feed the Great Salt Lake, it could bolster the lake’s health and help protect life in Northern Utah.

Visit greatsaltlakewaterkeeper.org to learn more.

04/30/2026

The Great Salt Lake can still be saved, but only through commonsense conservation measures and basic regulatory mechanisms.

On this episode of Liquid Courage, Joe shares the first policy solution from our 4,200 Project: setting 4,200 feet above sea level and 1,600 square miles of surface area as Utah’s official water level restoration goal for the Great Salt Lake.
Establishing a restoration goal would give us a benchmark for measuring restoration progress, and it would help us hold ourselves accountable to the American people for maintaining this critical aquatic ecosystem.

But Utah legislators refused to even have a real debate about this policy after we unveiled it in 2023. The legislation didn’t make it out of committee, and Utah Governor Spencer Cox shot it down by calling it “a dumb thing.”

By refusing to commit to an official lake level goal, state leaders can talk about saving the Great Salt Lake, even while the Legislature creates policies that shrink the lake by making it easier to divert more water upstream and build dikes to push the lake into a smaller footprint.

The new record low elevation and surface area for the Great Salt Lake that is likely coming later this year is the direct consequence of their posturing about protection while they actually undermine the lake’s health.

The good news is that there are many opportunities available to raise lake levels if we have the courage to implement the 4,200 Project’s policies.

Visit greatsaltlakewaterkeeper.org to learn more.

04/30/2026

The Great Salt Lake can still be saved, but only through commonsense conservation measures and basic regulatory mechanisms.

On this episode of Liquid Courage, Joe shares the first policy solution from our 4,200 Project: setting 4,200 feet above sea level and 1,600 square miles of surface area as Utah’s official water level restoration goal for the Great Salt Lake.

Establishing a restoration goal would give us a benchmark for measuring restoration progress, and it would help us hold ourselves accountable to the American people for maintaining this critical aquatic ecosystem.

But Utah legislators refused to even have a real debate about this policy after we unveiled it in 2023. The legislation didn’t make it out of committee, and Utah Governor Spencer Cox shot it down by calling it “a dumb thing.”

By refusing to commit to an official lake level goal, state leaders can talk about saving the Great Salt Lake, even while the Legislature creates policies that shrink the lake by making it easier to divert more water upstream and build dikes to push the lake into a smaller footprint.

The new record low elevation and surface area for the Great Salt Lake that is likely coming later this year is the direct consequence of their posturing about protection while they actually undermine the lake’s health.

The good news is that there are many opportunities available to raise lake levels if we have the courage to implement the 4,200 Project’s policies.

Visit greatsaltlakewaterkeeper.org to learn more.

04/22/2026

Our world is facing serious environmental challenges, but a look back at America’s first Earth Day can illuminate the path forward.

On this episode of Liquid Courage, Joe talks about the history of Earth Day and what it can teach us about solving environmental crises like the drying of the Great Salt Lake.

Earth Day started in 1970, and it was more than just a demonstration.

Public awareness had been growing about rampant industrial pollution and habitat loss since the end of World War 2.

American cities were suffocating on air pollution from factories and vehicles. Americans could see that reforms were necessary to protect our world, and humanity itself, from the excesses of unregulated industrialization.

But there were almost no laws to protect air quality, water quality, or protect ecosystems, even though conservation leaders had tried to get environmental regulations passed.

So environmental leaders devised a plan to hold these elected officials accountable. That plan was Earth Day.

20 million Americans from cities across the country rallied on the first Earth Day to demand that government improve the living conditions of an over-polluted America.

This led to the founding of the EPA, the creation of the Clean Water Act, the establishment of the Endangered Species Act, the strengthening of the Clean Air Act, and other landmark environmental protections.

None of these successes would have happened if Americans hadn’t demanded accountability from their government. This Earth Day, 56 years later, that mantel of responsibility falls to us.

Visit greatsaltlakewaterkeeper.org to learn more.

04/16/2026

Several municipalities across Utah have stepped up to help residents weather the west’s record-setting drought.

On this episode of Liquid Courage, Joe talks about our immensely popular RainHarvest program. To help reduce outdoor water use on landscapes – which accounts for 70% of the water our cities use each year – we’ve partnered with 18 municipalities for this year’s RainHarvest.

RainHarvest is a program in which cities, counties, and other water suppliers incentivize people to collect rainwater by lowering the price of these 50-gallon, Ivy rain barrels. These rain barrels are made in North Carolina by the family-run Rain Water Solutions, and each is constructed from 100% recycled materials.

Ivy rain barrels are designed to capture stormwater that flows off your home’s roof through your rain gutter, allowing you to use that water on your grass or flowerbed after the rainstorm has passed.

When used year after year, one of these rain barrels can save you money on your water bills, reduce your water demand, and keep Utah’s waterways cleaner.

Visit www.rainbarrelprogram.org/urc between now and April 26th to get yours.

04/09/2026

The National Weather Service just updated its drought observations for Utah, and all signs point to this being a difficult year for all life in Utah.

Runoff from snowpack accounts for nearly 95% of the water Utah relies on for drinking water, landscapes, and farms throughout the year, so low winter snowpacks mean less water for the rest of the year. Right now, our statewide snowpack is at a record-low, roughly 20% of median for this time of year.

Our snowpacks are actually in worse condition than we often contemplate because we keep ignoring climate change’s impact on what is known as the freeze line. The freeze line is the elevation level where it is cold enough for snow to accumulate. Below the freeze line, new snow melts quickly or falls as rain. As climate change warms up our winter air temperatures, the freeze line moves higher up the mountain, which means less of our watershed is covered by snow. Since many snow detection sensors are located at higher elevations, we often don’t think about the reduction in total snow in the watershed.

This news means Utahns should prepare for another exceptionally dry summer of wildfires and water shortages. Many of our rivers will see record low flows and may even dry up completely, and most streams will experience warmer temperatures, which are hard on trout populations, and we could see fish kills as our rivers won’t have enough oxygen in the water column. Finally, we are almost guaranteed a new record low water level and surface area at the Great Salt Lake, which could have been avoided if Utah had embraced its regulatory responsibilities of upstream water diversions years ago.

Some people argue that the solution is to build more dams and reservoirs, but statewide, our reservoirs are only at about 39% of their combined capacity. Lake Powell, the largest reservoir in Utah and the second largest in America, is only at about 25% of its capacity. We could build 100 Lake Powells and they would still be empty.

We no longer have time to pretend we can solve this 21st century dilemma with 20th century thinking.

The good news is that real, attainable solutions exist to live within the means of what nature provides and secure a more sustainable water future for our children and every living thing in Utah.

Visit utahrivers.org to learn more. See you next time.

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4855 S 900 E #202
Millcreek, UT
84117

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