Drought Management and Its Impact on Public Water Systems Report on a Colloquium Sponsored by the Water Science and Technology Board (1986) / Chapter Skim
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5. Legal and Institutional Aspects of Drought Management
5. Legal and Institutional Aspects of Drought Management
Pages 78-98
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From page 78... ...
In order to provide for adequate water during drought periods, the municipality would need to develop a water-supply system that would be in excess of its needs during normal times and substantially in excess of its needs during wet cycles. If this is not done, then during drought conditions there is inadequate water.
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From page 79... ...
In all of Salt Lake County we are endeavoring to develop facilities and water supplies adequate to provide peak daily flows of approximately 1,200 cfs. A good well in Salt Lake
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From page 80... ...
These include water conservancy districts created under the authority of Title 73, Chapter 9; metropolitan water districts, created under Title 73, Chapter 8; local improvement districts, created under Title 17, Chapter 6; and county service areas created under Title 17, Chapter 29. Generally, these statutes do not provide express power to ration
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From page 81... ...
For example, on conservancy districts, S73-9-28, U.C.A. 1953, as amended, provides that the water conservancy district board shall have the power to make and enforce rules and regulations concerning "management, control, delivery, use and distribution of water." S73-8-21 grants to metropolitan water district boards the power to construct and control the waterworks systems necessary for the full exercise of its power, and empowers such districts to enact ordinances, resolutions, and orders necessary for the management and control of the district's affairs.
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From page 82... ...
I have created and during the early years of their existence have represented numerous water ~ ~ ~ districts, mutual water companies, and public-utility~type water companies -- none of which have governmental powers.
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From page 83... ...
The trial court concluded that the district was without statutory authority to prohibit water connections or extensions to inhabitants of the water district, merely because of a dry cycle. The appellate court held otherwise, and in so holding said: a water district is empowered to anticipate a future water shortage and to impose appropriate regulations and restrictions where, lacking such control, its water supply will become depleted and it will be unable to meet the needs of its consumers.
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From page 84... ...
Water districts, although generally creatures of statute, have limited governmental powers. Then, as noted, private water companies and mutual water companies have essentially no governmental powers, but they can adopt nondiscriminatory rules, regulations, and rates for the use of water.
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From page 85... ...
. Included in Appendix B is a rationing program actually adopted and put into operation by the Salt Lake County Water Conservancy District, which is a well-managed organization in Salt Lake County, Utah, furnishing water to 450,000 people.
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From page 86... ...
I was retained to acquire the water rights in the adjacent stream and to file applications so that the water so acquired could be removed from that drainage area where it had been used for irrigation and permit its use for municipal and industrial purposes in the adjoining watershed. When I learned that the homes were all unmetered and water was free, I made the suggestion that instead of building the expensive reservoir, pipelines, and so on, they put individual meters on every home and price the water so that the basic water needs would be met at a relatively low monthly cost, but with a surcharge imposed for use above this basic minimum.
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From page 87... ...
. AS noted above, If a city has adequate water to meet its needs during a drought, the water rights it owns will almost assuredly provide a surplus during normal and wet years.
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From page 88... ...
When the state engineer approves the application, the right is like any other water right and takes its place in the state priority system. See In re Green River Adjudication v.
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From page 89... ...
In Salt Lake County there are three major suppliers of water. One is the Salt Lake County Water Conservancy District, which furnishes water on a wholesale basis to many cities, districts, and water companies.
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From page 90... ...
The Provo River, which is a major source of water for the heavily populated Wasatch Front area, including Salt Lake City, might yield 1,500,000 acre-feet during a random wet year, 1,000,000 acre-feet during an average year, and only 500,000 acre-feet during a dry year. With Provo River storage, the use can dependably approach the average.
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From page 91... ...
Without storage, beneficial uses would be limited to short periods of runoff during the year, and on many western streams power could not be generated except at irregular intervals. In 1 Hutchins, Water Rights Law in the Nineteen Western States (W.
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From page 92... ...
This section permits the state engineer to grant extensions of time, but requires the applicant to show good cause as to why he has not been using the water. It identifies financial crises, industrial depression, operation of legal proceedings, or unavoidable causes, and concludes by saying, "the holding of a water right without use by any municipality, metropolitan water districts or other public agencies to meet the reasonable future requirements of the public shall constitute reasonable cause for such nonuse." Texas law gives to cities a right to displace existing uses for subsequently arising municipal needs.
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From page 93... ...
1978) interpreted Nebraska's preference statute with regard to the domestic use of ground water between private parties.
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From page 94... ...
Subsequent to the entry of the district court's decision, New Mexico repealed New Mexico Statute Annotated S72-12-19 (1978) and enacted 72-12B-1, which established an application procedure requiring consideration of several factors by the state engineer when ruling on applications for the withdrawal and transportation of ground water from the state.
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From page 95... ...
The state engineer must also find that the proposed export is neither contrary to the water conservancy policies of the state nor otherwise detrimental to the public welfare of New Mexico's citizens. In making his decision the state engineer shall consider the following factors: (1)
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From page 96... ...
12 to be facially unconstitutional. The critical portion of S73-12B-1 provides that the state engineer must find that the "use outside the state .
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From page 97... ...
provide information required by the state engineer to determine whether New Mexico can constitutionally prefer its own citizens. Although the six criteria did not make the section facially unconstitutional, the court held that the use of these criteria to regulate the export of ground water for domestic (municipal)
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From page 98... ...
The management of water supplies is critical. If the normal supply available is not adequate during a drought period, then with a proper statutory unpinning, the authority can be granted to cities, districts, private water companies, and so on, to impose rationing and to conserve water.
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