The answer to that question is months away.

The state Division of Water Rights is reviewing allegations that Summit County's public Mountain Regional Water District is illegally diverting surface water from the Weber River near Peoa. The process will be complicated and time-consuming, according to Ross Hansen, the state's regional engineer for the Weber River drainage.

The probe follows a complaint to the Division of Water Rights by the privately held Summit Water Distribution Co. It earlier sued Summit County in 3rd District Court on antitrust claims after the County Commission in 2000 consolidated a dozen private water companies in the Park City area. Summit Water Distribution Co. has sued Summit County on numerous other occasions. Officials from the private water company could not be reached for comment Friday.

But Dave Thomas, chief deputy in the Summit County Attorney's Office, said Mountain Regional did not violate permits issued by the Division of Water Rights. Those permits give Summit County the authority to pump Weber River water into Snyderville Basin via Mountain Regional's Lost Canyon Pipeline, he said.

At issue is whether Summit County's permits for shallow wells near the Weber River channel allow it also to pull water from the river itself. Summit Water Distribution Co. contends that Summit County's river-bank breach in two places violates Utah law.

"It could be a big deal," conceded the state's water-rights engineer. "We'll try to determine how big of a deal it really is."

Hansen would not comment on the case's merits, but said policy would drive the division's review.

"The policy says, 'You take the water according to your water right. If your right says you can take it out of a well, you shouldn't take it from a surface source.' "

The review will be multifaceted, Hansen noted. He wouldn't predict when it would be completed. "This is a very tough issue. There are a lot of things to be looked at."

But Thomas called the allegations "harassment" by Summit Water Distribution officials.

"They sue Mountain Regional a couple of times a year," he said. "And this is just more of the same."

csmart@sltrib.com