Salt Lake County’s largest water provider will charge an extra fee for cities that use more water than they’re allotted.

The Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District distributes water to over a dozen areas in Salt Lake County, totaling about 800,000 residents in the western and southern portions of the county. This year, if cities go over their contracted supply from the district, they could face thousands in drought surcharges.

The water district’s supply comes from the Provo River and Colorado River watersheds, but current conditions have put the district in a severe shortage, Jacob Young, general manager of the conservancy district, said during a Salt Lake County Council meeting on May 12.

This means the district is enforcing new overuse penalties for the cities it serves, including Bluffdale, Draper, Herriman, Magna, Midvale, Riverton, South Jordan, South Salt Lake and West Jordan. Cities will be charged if they exceed their contracted water supply by 10% or more, said Kelly Good, the water district’s community engagement director.

[Read more: How Utahns can help their yards survive this year’s drought.]

Surcharges would vary based on individual contracts between cities and the water district, but could range from $600 to $850 per acre-foot of additional water. An acre-foot is nearly 326,000 gallons, enough to supply about two typical Utah homes.

For example, the most recent usage projections from March showed Riverton exceeding its allotment by 18% this year. If those projections held, the city would face a drought surcharge of over $55,400.

Projections from the beginning of the year, Good said, are likely to decrease as the year continues. Riverton is planning to kick off a water conservation effort in the coming weeks, a city spokesperson said.

Most cities have mechanisms in place that would apply the surcharge to wasteful water users in their area, Young said.

The water district also delivers water directly to about 8,000 residents and small businesses in addition to the cities it serves. Retail customers who use excessive amounts of water beyond their contracted amount will see their water bills go up proportionally starting on July 1, Good said.

Everything helps when it comes to conserving water, said Zach Frankel, executive director of the Utah Rivers Council, but charging an extra fee is not going to the heart of the problem of overuse.

“The water in Denver is twice the price of water in the Salt Lake Valley,” Frankel said. “... This surcharge is a baby step… It doesn’t develop any accountability for the wasting of water that we have been doing here in Utah for a long time.”

Frankel said many of the area’s largest water users, such as public institutions, are exempt from paying property taxes that water districts use to keep water rates in Utah some of the lowest in the West.

Making rates higher for all would help ensure high water users don’t get away with overusing, he said.

The water district’s restrictions and fees could rise if needed, Good said. But the district is hopeful, she said, because it has already seen customers consuming less water.

“This year it’s pretty unprecedented with the lack of snow,” Good said. “So generally [we] decide these things in March and that has worked for us, but there’s nothing to say we can’t reconvene our drought committee later in the year if things take a turn for the worst.”

The conservancy district has tripled its marketing budget to get messaging out to the public, such as watering only twice a week this summer, Young said. The agency has said “this year is different,” and people need to conserve water in case drought conditions continue next year, she added.

“Your grass may be yellow, but that means it’s dormant, not dead, and that’s a good thing this year,” Young said. “Won’t be having those green, lush lawns this year. That yellow is what the norm needs to be.”