That was state Sen. Lyle Hillyard's message to the Cache County Council this week.

The Logan Republican said a bill in the 2006 Legislature would affect water development in northern Utah and throughout the state.

To protect Cache County from raids on its water supply from drier communities to the south, and to allow residents to capitalize on the development, Hillyard urged elected officials to designate someone to represent county residents regarding water-planning issues.

The budding bill will put the Washiki Dam - to be developed in northern Utah near Plymouth - on the same priority level as the southern Utah pipeline project that will transport water from Lake Powell to St. George, Hillyard explained.

The bill also would repeal the requirement for 70 percent of water users to approve water-development plans, Hillyard said. Without a voice of authority in the discussions, he predicted, “next year will be a serious problem for Cache County.”

“Certainly you need to protect your interests as they develop Washiki Dam,” Hillyard said. “If we miss this opportunity, our children will look back and hold us all accountable.”

Cache County Councilman Gordon Zilles said another “very scary” bill in the works proposes to allow the Salt Lake area to acquire eminent domain and “take away Cache County water.”

Retired Rep. Evan Olsen, R-Young Ward, said the time has come for the county to get involved in all critical water issues.

Although most Utah counties manage water development projects through conservancy districts, Cache County voters have bucked this alternative, defeating the proposal most recently in a 1999 special election.

Ann Peralta, chairwoman of the Cache County Water Advisory Board, said the conservancy district continues to be a political hot potato because of voter concerns about taxation without representation. County Executive Lynn Lemon says staffing a Cache water conservancy district with elected - not appointed - officials might take the political heat out of the debate.

Hillyard said Cache County may want to keep its share of Washiki water, or it may decide to sell it to fund future water development.

“If we have no interest in it, then we need to have someone at the table to say that," he said, adding that the bill will be drafted by Dec. 1. “It's much easier for me to get it in the bill now, while it's being drafted, than it is to amend it.”

Cache County Council members will revisit the issue at their Oct. 25 meeting.

abrunson@sltrib.com