This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

It is beyond encouraging that one of the first actions of the 2016 Utah Legislature was the Senate's lop-sided approval of a bill that will change the way many people and institutions all over the state pay for their water.

Far more than any boondoggle pipeline or Nile-scale system of dams, pushing more of the cost of water onto those who use the most of it will push the whole of Utah toward the only chance it has of having enough water to keep up with the expected boom in population: Conservation.

Senate Bill 28, sponsored by Sen. Scott Jenkins, flew through the Senate Tuesday on a 26-2 vote. The bill would require all retail water providers to institute a tiered pricing structure, also known as "conservation pricing," that will increase the price per gallon as each customer uses more water.

Jenkins, R-Plain City, stressed that pushing the price-per-gallon of water up as consumers use more won't necessarily deter any of the growth that is expected to double Utah's population over the next 30 years. On the contrary, he argued, it should help to accommodate that growth by using market signals to stretch available water over more people.

Las Vegas, Jenkins explained, has long used such a pricing system and has still managed to absorb large increases in its population and a recent trend of building 60,000 homes each year.

By making water more dear as a household, business, public institution or golf course consumes more, the reasonable hope is that every water bill sent out will be a strong signal to everyone to use less.

For homes, it may mean giving up large lawns in favor of desert-friendly landscaping. For larger acreages, it should encourage wiser water use, including more efficient means of irrigation. It offers a much more effective means of pushing conservation than any other way of setting, or policing, limits on use.

The next step is something that the bill does not require, but that some of its backers hope will come anyway. And that's a move by local water providers to move toward water rates and away from property taxes as their primary means of income.

Hiding the cost of water in property tax bills not only makes customers less mindful of their consumption, it also gives tax-exempt properties — churches, schools, universities, local governments — every incentive to drench their lawns with precious water, shifting the cost to taxpaying homes and businesses.

Absurd ideas such as the proposed Lake Powell Pipeline still have to be beaten back. But the House should pass, and Gov. Gary Herbert should sign, SB28. It's just common sense.