A report issued Tuesday suggests Utah's canal companies should be required to carry liability insurance and work with local governments to make risk management assessments of their waterways.
But neither the canal companies nor the cities like the idea. Both sides say they can't afford it.
Both entities should accept liability, according to proposals set forth by a special subcommittee during the state's Executive Water Task Force meeting. The report comes in the wake of the July 11 collapse of the Northern & Logan canal that claimed three lives.
The question remains unresolved: Who's legally responsible for safety and liability of Utah's 6,600 miles of irrigation canals despite the 100-year-plus history of the waterways?
"The cities are going to feel hard pressed to get involved this [risk management] assessment," said Merrill Bingham, Provo Public Works Department. "They're already feeling strapped."
But Tage Flint, Weber Basin Water Conservancy District, said if such requirements were made law, "it could put some of these canal companies out of business."
Gov. Gary Herbert earlier ordered the task force to appoint the special subcommittee to find answers to Utah's canal hazards and accompanying lack of regulation.
Development has encroached upon the canals, said Dallin Jensen, a Salt Lake City-based attorney who represents various water interests.
"These are hazards because homes have been built next to them," Jensen said. "It's frustrating for a lot of the canal companies."
The issue is also troubling to municipalities, said Jodi Hoffman, an attorney affiliated with the Utah League of Cities and Towns, because local government has little influence on how canals are maintained.
"The canal companies aren't willing to give up any control ... [and] they cross many jurisdictions. This is a regional problem," Hoffman said.
Nonetheless, the report suggests "it is the responsibility of both the canal company and the local government to ensure canals are safe and properly maintained in high hazard categories."
Subcommittee Chairman Sterling Brown of the Utah Farm Bureau emphasized the report seeks to "enhance the safety of humans."
The report -- which seems to suggest state regulations should be imposed -- runs counter to many canal company shareholders who want a "bottom-up" approach to the issue.
Hoffman said the state must put some regulations in place.
"If we leave things the way they are, with self-regulation, we'll continue to have problems," Hoffman said.
Mike Styler, executive director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources, sent Brown's subcommittee back to fine-tune the report.
"It looks like we're going to have to have some compromise," Styler said.
