Utah needs $60 billion in water infrastructure upgrades in the next 35 years, state report finds
Oct 24, 2024, 2:00 PM
Memory Grove Park, part of City Creek Canyon, is part of Salt Lake City’s protected watershed and is a valuable source of drinking water. (Megan Nielsen, Deseret News)
(Megan Nielsen, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — For Utahns to have the drinking and irrigation water they’ll need by 2060, water leaders will have to pay a $60 billion tab.
That’s according to a new report from the Utah Division of Water Resources, which Candice Hasenyager, the division’s director, presented to state lawmakers last week.
The report found Utah needs infrastructure upgrades to the tune of:
- $38.2 billion for drinking water needs
- $15 billion for water quality needs
- and $6 billion for irrigation and canal
projects.
Hasenyager explained they and other state agencies have water set aside for projects like this, but, “a lot of the funds have been obligated … or have designated uses … and then we’re seeing federal funds diminish,” she told lawmakers last Thursday.
The report outlined how Utah water managers accumulate funds for water-related projects. Those funds come from:
- Water user rates and fees
- Property taxes
- Impact fees
- State sales tax
- State appropriations
- Federal funding
It will likely take some time for water managers and other state leaders to work out how this massive bill will get paid, but State Senator David Hinkins noted, “with inflation and everything else … we really need to do it sooner … the sooner, the better,” he said in the hearing.
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