As Utah eyes more water to support its growing population, the state’s water agent could soon have more power to look to the Colorado and Bear rivers for answers — with potentially less oversight from the public.
HB311, sponsored by state Rep. Casey Snider, R-Paradise, would allow Utah’s water agent — a governor-appointed position created in 2024 with a $1 million budget to look for water outside of Utah’s borders — to seek water supplies from the Bear and Colorado rivers. Before, those rivers were off-limits.
Joel Ferry, who is also the director of the state’s Department of Natural Resources, currently serves as Utah’s water agent.
“The intent of the original legislation was to allow the agent to work with neighboring states to find potential win-win solutions,” Ferry said in a Friday statement. Snider’s bill “clarifies the intent of the original legislation and allows the agent to collaborate with our sister states in the best interests of our citizens.”
Snider said he introduced the bill so the state’s water agent can “find additional sources of water…to allow the state to continue to grow and not have water be a limiting factor” during a committee hearing Feb. 13. He pointed to infrastructure issues with dams across the state that the water agent could help resolve.
The bill “opens the door” to water projects that could impact the drought-stricken Colorado River, said Kyle Roerink, executive director of the nonprofit Great Basin Water Network.
Roerink referred to the Lake Powell Pipeline, a proposal to transfer water from the reservoir 143 miles west to rapidly growing Washington County, which has been in limbo since 2020.
Zach Frankel, executive director of the nonprofit Utah Rivers Council, said he is concerned the bill could also reopen discussions about plans to divert water from the Bear River.
That $2.8 billion project would bring Bear River water to northern Utah to support the region’s growth according to a 2019 feasibility study. The river also is a vital source of water to the Great Salt Lake, and developing it could reduce the drying lake’s level by 8.5 inches, a 2016 white paper found.
Snider said the bill “has nothing to do with the Bear River development” in a Thursday committee hearing. Ferry said “nothing in this bill … would enable the water agent to pursue any agreements with the Lake Powell Pipeline or the Bear River project” in his Friday statement.
Ferry added that, in his role as Utah’s water agent, he cannot enter into contracts with other states. Rather, he can recommend projects that could increase Utah’s water supplies to the state Board of Water Resources, which does have that authority.
Roerink also said the bill gives “the water agent more power to have behind-the-scenes conversations. It keeps that official in the shadows.”
The water agent is not bound by the state’s public procurement process. The Colorado River Authority of Utah, established in 2021 to collaborate with other basin states, is also not subject to open meetings and records laws.
Amy Haas, executive director for the authority, said she did not have a comment on the pending legislation. Gene Shawcroft, who represents Utah on all Colorado River issues, was not available for comment according to a spokesperson for the authority.
HB311 passed the House on Feb. 21 and is awaiting a vote in the Senate as the Utah Legislature enters its final week of the 2025 session.
