H.B. 187 Water Amendments

What this bill does

The bill gives lower Colorado River basin water districts, including Washington County's, more time to develop water rights they have set aside, so Utah does not lose them to other states. It also prohibits certain change orders affecting water in that basin, and the latest version is a second substitute.

Plain-English summary written by AI from the official description. Check the official text below.

Your legislators on this bill

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Quotes come from the official recordings' automatic captions, which can mishear words. Speakers and summaries are identified by AI and can be wrong. Use the ▶ links to check the recording.

Every vote

• 10 yes, 0 no, 4 absentHouse Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee: vote to change the bill · Feb 2, 2026Who voted how
• 9 yes, 0 no, 5 absentHouse Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee: vote to approve it · Feb 2, 2026Who voted how
• 66 yes, 0 no, 9 absentFinal House vote · Feb 12, 2026Who voted how
• 4 yes, 0 no, 3 absentSenate Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee: vote to approve it · Feb 18, 2026Who voted how
• 24 yes, 2 no, 3 absentFirst of two Senate votes · Feb 25, 2026Who voted how
• 20 yes, 1 no, 8 absentFinal Senate vote · Feb 26, 2026

Hearings and debates

• Feb 2, 2026 House Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (34 turns)

  1. Committee chair1:30:44

     Aye. Any opposed? Say nay. Aye. That passes unanimously. So now we go to Representative Jack. Go ahead whenever you're ready, representative.

  2. Rep. Colin W. Jack1:30:59

     Thank you, Mr. Chair. I also have online, uh, Zach Renstrom, who is the manager of the Washington County Water Conservancy District. After I give you an introduction, he'll give you the, the technical details, so he should be there for you. So we're talking about HB 180 7 1, which should already be on the system, uh, and what what this does. And, uh, Mr. Renstrom can give you the, the details from his side, but it's designed to protect Utah's water rights in the lower basin. As you know, in Utah we're divided between the Great Salt Lake Basin and the Colorado River Basin. Uh, our particular district is in the Colorado River Basin. And, uh, and we have water rights in the lower district in the, in the lower basin. And, uh, and they're longstanding rights, but, uh, we need to be able to preserve them here in the state. And so this bill will give our water districts the ability to maintain their water rights and preserve them for the day that we're going to need them here in Utah. And if it's all right with you, Mr. Chair, I would turn some time over to Zach Renstrom to give you a better description.

  3. Rep. Colin W. Jack1:32:32

     Okay. Now I'm showing a second sub. Is that what you're speaking to? First One, Is there a second sub, or is this the first sub Already been adopted? This first sub's already been adopted, and it shows a second sub. I am not, I'm not aware of a second sub. Let me look real quick. Maybe I've, Okay, Maybe I forgot. Um, Sure. Online, So that's online. I show sub one Oh, sub two, sub two. Somebody hijacked your bill. Um, Oh, That's the coordinating clause. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. I forgot. We, there is a coordinating clause, uh, assuming that another water bill gets passed. Yeah, HB 3 48. Right. Uh, and so if that gets passed, then this coordinating clause will take effect. If that doesn't get passed, then this coordinating clause won't, uh, won't make difference. It be necessary. So you're talking to the second sub? Yeah. So the second sub is all the same of this, but with the coordinating clause. Okay.

  4. Committee chair1:34:07

     Okay. Go ahead Zach.

  5. Zachary Renstrom, Manager, Washington County Water Conservancy District1:34:11

     Thank you, chair. I appreciate this time to, to speak. Um, as the representative stated down here in Southern Utah and Washington and Cain, we are actually located in the lower basin of the Colorado River. So legally, we actually have different laws on how the Colorado River works down here. Um, the laws in this area is kind of governed by a, a Supreme Court case between Arizona versus Colorado, California. And that deals directly with how, uh, Colorado River, uh, water tributaries should be dealt with. And so, so it's just kind of a unique area of the state of Utah. And so this is a special carve out just for our little county, um, on how we want to deal with that. The other unique thing is literally we're right on the border. And so if we don't manage our water well, and we're not using it here within the state of Utah, it leaves the state of Utah. We're not able to u utilize that. So as we're moving forward, um, we're very happy with all the amazing things we're doing down here. We have amazing water conservation going on. We're, we're building some great infrastructure, and we realize we, we just need a little bit more flexibility and also especially, um, on how, you know, we, we operate on kind of under different laws down here. And so that's what this bill's hoping to do, to give us, is a little bit more flexibility on how we manage it. Also, we have the Virgin River down here that has some, um, environmental issues that we're always concerned about. We've actually have the Virgin River Program that has been a phenomenal success, success. It's actually been, um, used around the country as an example on how to manage those species. And so we, we fill with all, everything that's going on down here, um, with this little carve out just for our little area of the state of Utah, it would be very helpful to have this flexibility moving forward with all the great things we're doing down here.

  6. Committee chair1:35:59

     Okay. Does that conclude your presentation?

  7. Zachary Renstrom, Manager, Washington County Water Conservancy District1:36:02

     It does, Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

  8. Committee chair1:36:05

     So we would, uh, turn the time back to you. Okay. We'll open it up for, uh, clarifying questions.

  9. Unknown speaker1:36:12speaker not certain

     I've got one. Zach, you mentioned in there that down here we operate by different laws. That's interesting. I'd be interested to know what all those laws are Specifically. There's a lot of discussion about the 1922 compact on the Colorado River and how that affects the state of Utah. The 1922 compact does not apply to the lower basin of the Colorado River. Yeah, I understand. That was kind of a joke, you know, so, Okay.

  10. Committee chair1:36:42

      Okay. Uh, clarifying questions. Representative Alrich.

  11. Rep. Carl R. Albrecht1:36:45

      Yeah. Thank you. And thank, uh, Representative Jack and Zach. Um, specifically, if any of you know the geography down there, they're talking about the East Fork of the Virgin, which originates in Kane County and, uh, the Virgin River there in Washington County. Uh, and, and those are very critical to that part of the state. Uh, there's also, uh, electricity power allocations based on upper basin and lower basin, and, uh, that of the power that comes out of Glen Canyon Dam. And Colon could, or Representative Jack could explain that, but it would take a half hour. So I won't ask him to, so that, that's what we're talking about geography wise, is the East Fork of the Virgin and the Virgin River.

  12. Committee chair1:37:36

      Okay. Thank you, representative. We'll go to Representative Kohler.

  13. Rep. Mike L. Kohler1:37:40

      Thank you. Mr. Chair question. We, there's a lot of news about, uh, litigation and action by Washington. If we don't get something done on the lower basin, how does a state law interact with that?

  14. Committee chair1:37:54

      So, uh, do you, do you wanna answer that, Zach, or do you want Me to I have to representative Yeah, Go ahead.

  15. Zachary Renstrom, Manager, Washington County Water Conservancy District1:38:01

      All the discussion that you're talking about and, and, and even with our governor, uh, going to Washington, DC that's all dealing directly with the 1922 Compact, um, there's really nothing addressing those negotiations that I'm aware of that are specifically dealing how, uh, we would deal with the tributaries in the lower basin.

  16. Committee chair1:38:22

      Okay. Thank you. Representative Kohler. Representative Arthur,

  17. Rep. John Arthur1:38:26

      Thank your chair. Um, I think this question is to Mr. Renstrom. Could you just go into greater detail about the, the flexibility and the manage that you talked about? What, what does that flexibility look like specifically?

  18. Zachary Renstrom, Manager, Washington County Water Conservancy District1:38:40

      Yeah. So down here, we, water is just, I, I don't wanna say more precious down here, but living in the Moja, we actually live in the Mojave Desert down here. And, and so one year we will have a massive flood, and the next year we'll be in a drought, sometimes several years in droughts. And so one of the things that's going on is we have to literally store our water for, for almost sometimes several, several years to get that. With our reuse coming on, we have to put all that back into all our calculations. And so there's just this limitation of how every single year we have to try to balance and manage that water. This bill would essentially eliminate, uh, a limitation. It's the 40 year rule. And it's a good rule. It's, I, I, I think it's a good rule for the law of the state of Utah, but down here, um, it is a limitation on how we wanna deal with water and how we try to comply with that rule.

  19. Rep. John Arthur1:39:30

      Um, do you mind if I ask a follow up chair? Could, could tell me more about that rule?

  20. Zachary Renstrom, Manager, Washington County Water Conservancy District1:39:36

      So, in the state of Utah, and, uh, that I believe the state engineers in the audience, and she could, she's the expert on this, but basically, if you're a government entity, you come up with a, a 40 year plan on, on how you want to manage the water. And down here it's tough 'cause we'll have a water, right? And sometimes we will use a hundred percent of that water, right. And then the next year we won't use any of it. A lot of it's because we just have in the Mojave Desert, it's a little bit more flashy with our system, meaning we have big floods and then we have years of drought. And so when we try to put the plan together, it gets kind of tricky. And also with our reuse coming on, we wanna be able to capture all that reuse, um, and, and store it in our reservoirs, hopefully for multiple years and not have to lose that.

  21. Rep. John Arthur1:40:19

      Gotcha. And final question, is it just, is it around one line, 180 1 through 1 91 that gives you that flexibility? Is that the part of the bill that makes that change?

  22. Zachary Renstrom, Manager, Washington County Water Conservancy District1:40:29speaker not certain

      Y yes. Okay. Thank you so much.

  23. Committee chair1:40:33

      Okay. Thank you, representative Arthur. Seeing no other clarifying questions, we'll open it up to public comment. Anybody in the public wanna speak to this bill? We do have one online, One online scene? None. We have one online. Adam Snow. Okay. Adam, nice to have you present. Uh, tell us who you are, where you're at, and how's the weather down there?

  24. Adam Snow, Southern Advisory Council, Colorado River Authority of Utah1:41:01

      Uh, it's excellent. Thank you very much. Uh, commissioner Adam Snow from Washington County. Uh, also a, I'm the chair of the Colorado River Authority Advisory Committee for the Southwest forestation of the state. Um, it's timely. I couldn't be with you today to support the bill, but I'm actually at the ribbon cutting for one of some of the infrastructure a, uh, Ash Creek reuse facility, multimillion dollar facility. Uh, right now I'm borrowing somebody's control room, but, um, that Zach was talking about just a minute ago about the infrastructure that we're trying to put in, uh, constantly down here. This bill helps us. We urge you both Washington County and the Southwest Advisory Committee to the Colorado River Authority urge you to support this. I don't need to belabor the point. Zach made them all and, and Representative Jack made them all already. But, uh, this is, this really helps us be able to provide the needs for, uh, our 210,000 residents and almost 10 million visitors. And, uh, most of the Wasatch Front that likes to come down here and recreate every, every other weekend.

  25. Committee chair1:41:56

      Okay. Thank you Mr. Snow. Appreciate that. Uh, seeing no other, uh, public comments, we'll close public comment. Bring it back to the committee for further discussion or action. Representative Koford, Did you want to adopt the second sub? Yeah, I think we should go Ahead. Okay. So I would move that we adopt second sub house bill 180 7. That Motion is in order. Any discussion in the motion? Seeing none will place the motion, which is to adopt second sub on HB 180 7. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Saying Aye. Rule that passes. Uh, Representative Koford, do you wanna continue?

  26. Rep. Jill Koford1:42:46

      Absolutely. I would move. We favorably recommend House Bill 180 7, second substitute.

  27. Committee chair1:42:53

      That is in order. Uh, do you wanna speak to it?

  28. Rep. Jill Koford1:42:57

      Nope. Grateful to the sponsor for addressing some important water issues.

  29. Committee chair1:43:02

      Okay. Back to the sponsor.

  30. Rep. Colin W. Jack1:43:04

      Thank you. Um, I appreciate the committee's time today. This is, this is very important for us in Washington County and Washington County. Our pioneer ancestors did a wonderful job. And, uh, Zach Renstrom has, has carried on, uh, in Washington County. We live. You, you see the explosive growth we're dealing with. All, every drop of water we have comes outta the Virgin River, and the pioneers described it as, as too, too muddy to, to plow and too thick to drink. So, uh, and yet we're squeezing water out of it for 200,000 residents. So thank you for the help.

  31. Committee chair1:43:44

      Okay. Appreciate that. Back to the sponsor.

  32. Rep. Colin W. Jack1:43:47

      I mean, the maker, the motion I'll waive, I'll just mention this too, is it's amazing, uh, all of the projects that are going on in Washington County to get every drop of water, you know, uh, with that new reservoir and everything. So, hats off to you there.

  33. Committee chair1:44:04

      So, all in favor of the motion, say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Say nay. Okay. We rule that passes unanimously. Thank

  34. Rep. Colin W. Jack1:44:14

      You, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Committee.

• Feb 12, 2026 House floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (7 turns)

  1. Unknown speaker31:41

     Second substitute House Bill 180 7 Water Amendments by Representative Jack. This bill was heard in Natural Resources, agriculture and Environment with a vote of 9 0 5.

  2. Speaker (presiding)31:51

     Representative Jack.

  3. Rep. Colin W. Jack31:53

     Thank you Mr. Speaker. So in an attempt not to use all 10 minutes allocated to discuss this water bill. It's a very simple water bill. Nobody laughed. I don't know. That one was funny. So, um, in, in, in the state of Utah, we have, we have two Big Water sources. We have, uh, we have the great, so all the drainage to the Great Salt Lake, and we have the Colorado River. And in the Colorado River, Utah is typically in the upper basin, one of the upper basin states where we take water out of the tributaries to the Colorado River. Um, however, down in southern Utah on the border with Arizona, Washington County, Kane County, we're actually in the lower Colorado Basin, uh, because of where our water comes, all of our water comes out of the Virgin River, uh, which the pioneers said was, uh, too, too runny to plow and too thick to drink. So, uh, our Water Conservancy district, however, our local Washington County Water Conservancy district has done an excellent job of keeping up with our explosive growth, uh, in the county in spite of what they have to work with and part of that long-term utility planning. And I can tell you that is a tricky job, long-term utility planning. They have to plan water resources far in advance of actually having to use them because if you try to go get it in the day you need it, that's way too late. Anyway, that's all background to let you know that there's a very small change that we need to make in order to preserve the rights that Utah has and the lower Colorado River basin. And that's this change in that the water districts in that lower basin don't necessarily have to develop the water rights that they've set aside in the same short time, uh, that they have currently in code. This would give them the opportunity to still reserve those rights going forward so that we don't lose those water rights out of the state of Utah. Ha, that was the shortest I could do two and a half minutes. Thank you Mr. Speaker.

  4. Speaker (presiding)34:28

     Thank you Representative Jack discussion to the Bill C none. Back to Representative Jack for summation.

  5. Rep. Colin W. Jack34:38

     Thank you. I'll waive Summation has been waived.

  6. Speaker (presiding)34:40

     Voting will now be open on second substitute. H. Representative Abbott, would you like to vote? Seeing all present, having voted voting is now closed. Second substitute HB 180 7 passed this body of 66 yes votes zero, no votes will be sent to the Senate for its consideration.

  7. Unknown speaker35:49speaker not certain

     Mad reading clerk

• Feb 18, 2026 Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (19 turns)

  1. Committee chair57:51

     Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, I believe we're on Third item. Let me call the bill house bill, one eighty seven. Second substitute water amendments. Go ahead, representative.

  2. Rep. Colin W. Jack58:01

     Thank you. And I believe online we may have Zach Renstrom?

  3. Committee chair58:07

     Yes, that's correct. Uh, could he co-present with me? Sure.

  4. Unknown speaker58:11speaker not certain

     I, we will get, um, we'll get him transferred over here to the panelist. Okay. You can unmute. Um, all right. If you could unmute and turn on your camera, we will have you on for presentation. We'll get him up and then let you start. Representative. Yeah. Yes. There we go. I'm here. If you can hear me now. Perfect. Yep. There we go. Go ahead, representative.

  5. Rep. Colin W. Jack58:44

     All right, thank you. So again, I'll give you the engineer's perspective on HB 180 7. Uh, and then, and then we'll have, uh, Zach Renstrom, who, uh, is the manager of the Washington County Water Conservancy District, uh, give you, well, he's also an engineer, but he, he lives in the water world. And I live in the electrical world. But, you know, we're, we're pretty, we're pretty closely related. In Washington County, we pump every drop of water with electricity. Um, but some of that electricity is generated from hydro on the Virgin River. Uh, the other, the other thing to think about in Washington County is every drop of water comes from the Virgin River. And so you think about that Virgin River, and you go through St. George, and it's mostly always dry. But, um, and well, in fact, what did the pioneer say? They said it's, uh, it's, it's too thick to drink, but too watery to plow. So, um, so we out, out of that, out of that resource, Zach Renstrom gets to, gets to provide water to the whole county. And so this, this bill works towards that. And, and as we talk about the Virgin River, uh, we, we start wandering into the world of, uh, of, um, the Colorado River Drainages. And as you know, most of Utah, when we're talking about the Colorado River, we're in the upper basin. However, down on our side of the state in Washington County, Cain County, we're in the lower Colorado River Basin. So that makes us a little odd relative to the rest of the state. Um, so what, what this bill does is it protects, it protects Utah water rights from being lost and, and sent on down the river to other states. We love our neighbors, but, uh, but we need water in Utah, and we have these water rights, and we need to keep them. And there's, there's a little glitch in, in Utah law that, that would potentially, uh, loses these water rights if, uh, if we don't make this, this as little change, you'll see it's a very short bill, uh, to, to allow the water district to do long-term planning, secure our water rights, and then actually develop the water as needed. It's kind of like in my world where I build a substation. I can't wait and see where the houses get built, and then go say, excuse me, can I put a substation in the middle of your neighborhood? I have to go build a substation in the middle of where I think the neighborhood will be, get it built, build the power line to it, and then know that the neighborhood will come. So, uh, the Water Conservancy district has to make sure to go get the water rights he's gonna need, not the day he needs it, but years before then. And, and this gives him some time to develop those, uh, when he actually needs them. So anyway, um, that's, that's my power engineer's perspective on what we're doing here. If it's okay with you, Mr. Chair, I would let the water engineer give you the, the straight scoop.

  6. Committee chair1:02:00

     Yes. Welcome, Mr. Renstrom, please introduce yourself and welcome to our committee.

  7. Zachary Renstrom, General Manager, Washington County Water Conservancy District1:02:05

     Thank you so much. Zachary Renstrom here, general manager of the Washington County Water Conservancy District, um, rep, the representative, an excellent job, uh, talking about our unique situation down here, um, and how, if, if we don't do something with the water here, it, the border's so close, it leaves the state of Utah. And also, we're also doing some phenomenal things for water conservation, our reuse that work really well in our neck of the woods, but maybe doesn't apply to the rest of the state of Utah. And so this bill is, is narrowly tailored just for Washington County and Cain County, that those areas that are located in the lower basin of the Colorado River, that were actually governed under a little different laws federally on how the Colorado River works in our neck of the woods. And this bill will just give us a lot more authority and ability to be flexible with how we do everything with water down here.

  8. Committee chair1:02:53

     Okay, great. Thank you.

  9. Zachary Renstrom, General Manager, Washington County Water Conservancy District1:02:55

     Thank you. That would, that would conclude our presentation.

  10. Committee chair1:02:59

      Okay. I think we'll probably keep Mr. Res on in case you have questions for me. Please?

  11. Zachary Renstrom, General Manager, Washington County Water Conservancy District1:03:03speaker not certain

      Yes, please. If you would, somebody may ask a question. I won't know the answer.

  12. Committee chair1:03:07

      We'll keep a phone a friend here. Okay. Bring it to the committee for any clarifying questions. Uh, seeing anyone, uh, in the public, has anyone come to speak to this bill? Okay. Quiet there as well. So we'll bring it back then for action. And Senator Hankins, your lights on. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would make a motion that we pass out house bill 180 7, second substitute with a favorable recommendation. Okay. Thank you for the motion. Uh, the motion is we pass out house bill 180 7. Second substitute discussion to the motion, not saying any. Do you have summation? I I'll

  13. Sen. David P. Hinkins1:03:51

      Waive. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And waive, I'll place the motion.

  14. Committee chair1:03:26

      And Senator Hankins, your lights on.

  15. Sen. David P. Hinkins1:03:30

      Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would make a motion that we pass out house bill 180 7, second substitute with a favorable recommendation.

  16. Committee chair1:03:37

      Okay. Thank you for the motion. Uh, the motion is we pass out house bill 180 7. Second substitute discussion to the motion, not saying any. Do you have summation? I I'll

  17. Committee chair1:03:54

      All in favor of rec, um, passing out house bill 180 7. Second, substitute water amendments, um, indicate by saying Aye. Aye. Aye. R. Aye. Opposed? D Any say nay? Pass unanimously. Thank

  18. Rep. Colin W. Jack1:04:10

      You. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate your time.

  19. Committee chair1:04:12

      Uh, you as well. Thank you, representative. Okay. Um, we'll go on to the next item on the agenda.

• Feb 25, 2026 Senate floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (6 turns)

  1. Sen. Don L. Ipson34:56

     Thank you Mr. President. What this bill does, gimme just a second to give my notes. Apologize. Thank you. Thank you. So what this bill does is it addresses the water in the lower basin defined by the Colorado, Colorado River Compact, and it prohibits certain change orders to take place on that. With that, I'm open to questions.

  2. Sen. J. Stuart Adams (presiding)35:38

     Thank you. Senator Ipson looking for questions to the bill, say no questions. Going to you for a motion

  3. Sen. Don L. Ipson35:50

     I waive summation to make a motion that first substitute house, second substitute house bill 180 7, be read for a third time.

  4. Sen. J. Stuart Adams (presiding)35:58

     Thank you. The question is, shall second substitute house bill 180 7, be read A third time roll call

  5. Unknown speaker (Senate clerk, roll call)36:04

     Vote. Senator Vickers Baldry Lewin Brammer Bus Comore Escamilla Fillmore Grover Harper Kinins Aye. Ipson Aye. Johnson Juab McKay Mikel Milner Musselman Owens pitcher Plum Rebe Sandal Stevenson Stratton pickers Weiler Wilson Winterton pitcher

  6. Sen. J. Stuart Adams (presiding)37:07

     Bus President Adams Aye. Second substitute house Bill 180 7. Having received 24 yay votes, two nay votes, three being absent shall be read a third time.

• Feb 26, 2026 Senate floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (11 turns)

  1. President Adams (presiding)24:05

     Senator Ipson.

  2. Sen. Don L. Ipson24:07

     Thank you Mr. President ProAm. What this bill does is addresses concerns with the water in the lower basin of the Colorado River that is set apart by the Colorado River Compact.

  3. President Adams (presiding)24:21

     With Adam open for questions, The senator is open for questions.

  4. President Adams (presiding)24:26

     Anything to the bill? Seeing none. Senator Ipson,

  5. Sen. Don L. Ipson24:31

     I move that second substitute house bill 180 7 pass

  6. President Adams (presiding)24:38

     The motion is shall second substitute house bill one eighty seven pass. Roll call vote.

  7. Senate clerk24:45

     Senator Vickers Spery Aye. Lewin Aye. Rammer Bus Comore. Escamilla Fillmore Aye. Grover Aye. Harper Aye. Hankins Aye. Ipson Aye. Johnson. Aye. Quan McKay Mikel Milner Musselman Owens pitcher Plum Rebe Sandal Stevenson Stratton Vicars Weiler. Yeah. Wilson Winterton

  8. Unknown speaker25:26speaker not certain

     Not on third. Yeah, you're fine. Catch your Eye.

  9. President Adams (presiding)25:31

     President Adams Second substitute house Bill 180 7 Having received 20 yay votes. One na vote eight being absent. Passes will be signed by the President and returned to the house for the signature of the speaker.

  10. President Adams (presiding)25:48

      Senator Cullimore, nevermind then. Not yet. Alright. Uh, then we are to first substitute House Bill 2 51. First Substitute house bill 2 51, diligence claims, water amendments. Senator Hinkins.

  11. Sen. David P. Hinkins26:03

      Senator Hinkins, Uh, thank you Mr.