Against that backdrop, the board of the Central Utah Water Conservancy District is likely to approve an increase in its property tax today. That would mean a taxpayer with a $200,000 home would pay about $7 a year more in tax in Salt Lake County; a business owner would see his tax bill rise about $13 a year on the same valuation.

That sounds small, though if you are running a household on a fixed income or trying to keep a small business afloat, no increase is small, especially if you don't have it.

But considering what the tax increase is supposed to accomplish, it also sounds reasonable. The district will use the $4.5 million in added income a year to help build projects on Utah Lake and in the Uinta Basin. The district embraces 10 counties.

The Utah Lake System would deliver 30,000 acre-feet of water to 10 cities in southern Utah County, and the same amount to cities in Salt Lake County. An acre-foot is roughly enough water to supply a household for a year. The conservancy district's share of the project is $150 million. The federal government will kick in roughly twice that much.

The Uinta Basin Replacement Project would expand Big Sand Wash Reservoir and provide additional water to Roosevelt. The district share of that project is about $15 million.

The Utah Lake System is one of the last links in the Central Utah Project, the holy grail of Utah water development since the 1960s. The $2.3 billion CUP was a federal project prior to 1992, when, in order to obtain more federal funds to complete it, Utah agreed to pony up about 35 percent of the costs, and the CUWCD took over construction from the federal Bureau of Reclamation.

We would prefer the CUWCD to get the added revenues it needs from higher retail water rates. That would encourage conservation and place the highest costs on those customers who use the most water. Supporting water development with property taxes masks the true cost to the consumer.

But the CUWCD wholesales water to retail utilities and the federal government sets the price, because it puts up the bulk of the capital. Federal law precludes CUWCD from bumping up the price to grow its bottom line.

So, to get more revenue, you get a tax increase.