H.B. 490 Water Optimization Reporting Amendments

What this bill does

This bill, requested by the Farm Bureau, addresses agricultural water that is switched to municipal and industrial use without being accounted for. The sponsor said the bill needs more work and that much of its work would be done administratively with the Department of Natural Resources on water usage.

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Every vote

• 9 yes, 0 no, 5 absentHouse Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee: vote, which it did not pass · Feb 11, 2026Who voted how

Hearings and debates

• Feb 11, 2026 House Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (29 turns)

  1. Committee chair1:07:05

     Thank you, representative. Okay, I'm gonna go to, uh, HB four 90, uh, water Optimization Reporting Amendments. Representative Owens.

  2. Rep. Doug Owens1:07:15

     Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just do it from here.

  3. Committee chair1:07:18

     Uh, why don't you go down there? He's gotta get to another meeting. So we'll let him go. Go ahead. Representative Owens

  4. Rep. Doug Owens1:07:33

     Consideration. Mr. Chair. Um, this bill idea that, uh, I'm presenting today was brought to me by Farm Bureau, and I'd like Mr. Warren Peterson to speak to it. And I'm gonna, uh, ask the committee just at the end of this very brief presentation to just move on to the next item. This is a bill that needs some work that's got a big fiscal note that we think we can reduce. And primarily, I think we can work on it at least the first year administratively with the good folks in the DNR about water usage. Uh, but this, the, I wanted to take, even though I intend to, you know, bring this bill back next year, if it's needed still, I thought it was worth three or four minutes of your time and committee to understand this Ag Water issue. And I'd like Mr. Peterson to speak to it. The, the, the topic really is the unknown switch of Ag water into municipal and industrial usage. You'll hear people say all the time, oh, we got a lot, a lot of water in the state. All we gotta do is buy it from farmers or get the farmers to let their water flow into the lake. And there's being fingers pointed at agriculture that is not justified because, uh, a lot of that water has crept into municipal and industrial usage, and we're having bigger depletions than is commonly understood, primarily with our outdoor, uh, landscape watering. So, with that introduction, I'd like Mr. Peterson to speak to it, and then I'll conclude for 10 seconds. Mr. Peterson will be a co-presenter, not a witness.

  5. Committee chair1:08:59

     Indeed. Yes. Presenter. Thank You. Go ahead Mr. Peterson.

  6. Warren Peterson, Farm Bureau1:09:03

     Thank you, Mr. Chair. The, um, yes, who do you represent?

  7. Committee chair1:09:08

     Mr. Peterson, and where are you? Who do you represent and who, where are you?

  8. Warren Peterson, Farm Bureau1:09:13

     Thank you. Um, can't even read my own notes to get that far. Uh, Warren Peterson, I'm representing Farm Bureau. I'm speaking to you from beautiful downtown Oasis, Utah. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to do this remotely. So, as Representative Owens Farm Bureau asked him if he would run this bill, because we're trying to get a handle on a number of things. One is really how much Ag water is actually Ag water and how much of it's going to other uses, because we know on a lot of the ag systems, there's quite a bit of water being drawn off, some sort, some of it without a water, right? So surreptitiously, uh, but al also a lot of it being taken out of these canal systems by shareholders, but using it for landscape irrigation rather than agricultural irrigation. So the idea was to move from the anecdotal in information to some good quantification of how much of that is actually happening and, and where it's happening. And especially in the Great Salt Lake Basin. So that as the, uh, great salt, the Great Salt Lake Commissioner's office goes forward with the AG leasing and the Ag optimization Department of Ag with the ag optimization programs, we get a, a better picture of how much water's actually going to be coming from agriculture compared to non-ag water that's in these so-called ag systems. When we saw the fiscal note on here, we thought this, this would be a problem. So the idea was just to slow it down for a year. And I've spoken with the, uh, commissioner's office, um, I know Hannah Freeze is watching this, but they think that we'd be better off slowing it down for a year, getting good data rather than trying to rush it ahead, especially with the fiscal note. So the idea would be that, uh, the commissioner's office, department of Ag and food, water resources with help from Farm Bureau would work with canal companies and see if we can generate this information and, and get some good hard data in, into water resources. But then if, if that turns out to be a problem, then probably come back next year with a bill, uh, to, to just put a little more power behind that effort. So, I, I, I don't know what to say, Mr. Chair, other than this would've been a good bill if it had gone forward. Now, the, uh, the idea is to, to set it back for a year and, and try to do it without the benefit of a bill.

  9. Committee chair1:11:35

     Thank you, Mr. Peterson. How's the weather in Oasis Dry? That's what I thought. You cloudy

  10. Warren Peterson, Farm Bureau1:11:41

      And promising, but we've, we've not had measurable rainfall since, uh, October.

  11. Committee chair1:11:47

      Thank you. Does that conclude, uh,

  12. Warren Peterson, Farm Bureau1:11:49

      your presentation? It does, Mr.

  13. Committee chair1:11:50

      Chair. Okay. Uh, your pleasure to make, have someone make a motion to hold this.

  14. Rep. Doug Owens1:11:58

      Yes. Well, may i, may I just add for 10 seconds? Yeah, go

  15. Committee chair1:12:01

      Ahead. The, the reason this

  16. Rep. Doug Owens1:12:02

      is important, again, it's important to bear in mind when you see a water conservation bill coming through this year, if it's about municipal water conservation, please pay attention. Because what we've been doing is everybody's thinking we're gonna take this water to save the great Salt Lake out of the height of agriculture. And it's, we're gonna find it, isn't there? It's, it's some, you see estimates ranging from 60 to 80% ag usage in the drainage of the Great Salt Lake. It's probably quite a bit lower than that. And, uh, we are, we are needing to think harder about how much water we're depleting in that m and i setting. So I do think, uh, the, the folks at, uh, water resources and a little bit from this state engineer's office will be able to work on this administratively and, and, uh, develop some more accurate numbers for next session. And so, I do think it's important for us to be thinking about this. So thank you for your time. And, um,

  17. Committee chair1:12:55

      Thank you. We do have some clarifying questions from the committee if you're done with your ing Yes. Representative Koford

  18. Rep. Jill Koford1:13:02

      That I thought we were moving to motion.

  19. Committee chair1:13:05

      So, uh, wait till we have public comment. Uh, thank you. Uh, Representative Kohler.

  20. Rep. Mike L. Kohler1:13:11

      Oh, I bumped it or you didn't turn it on? I'm sorry. I don't have anything.

  21. Committee chair1:13:16

      Okay. Um, seeing no questions from the committee will go to public comment. Anyone in the room? Seeing none? We do have one online. Travis Padilla?

  22. Travis Padilla1:13:29

      Uh, yes, sir. Thank you. Um, Travis Padilla. I am a citizen volunteer for Grow the Flow. Um, I just wanna say thank you for your efforts. Uh, Representative Owens and Representative Koford for working on the most pressing issue in Utah right now. Uh, my family and I live two blocks from the Great Salt Lake, uh, just off the Antelope Island Causeway. And, uh, I wanna appreciate their efforts. What we can do, uh, on this issue is, is important to our kids, our businesses, our real estate, um, values. So, um, please consider this bill upcoming and future Representative Koford bills about the Great Salt Lake and getting more water to the lake. Thank you.

  23. Committee chair1:14:08

      Thank you for your comments. Anyone else for public comment? Seeing none, I'll close public comment, come back to you, Representative Koford.

  24. Rep. Jill Koford1:14:16

      Um, I, I'd like to make a motion that we move to the next agenda item

  25. Committee chair1:14:20

      That motion's in order. Would you like to speak to it?

  26. Rep. Jill Koford1:14:23

      Yes. I appreciate what you're trying to do in, in Weber County. Uh, we've just crossed the threshold where there's more m and I use in water than agriculture. So this is really important. And I think studying it and, and making sure we get the data right is important. Thank you for your work.

  27. Committee chair1:14:39

      Thank you. Uh, committee discussion to the motion. Seeing none back to the sponsor, waive to the maker of the motion.

  28. Unknown speaker1:14:50speaker not certain

      I'll place the motion that we move on to the next agenda item. And, uh, thank you Representative Owens for the introduction and hopefully good luck in your pursuit to make this a better bill during the interim. And I would encourage you to go to the Water Task Force, the Water Development Commission, and natural resources. You gotta run the gauntlet with a water bill. We did some of that already, but the fiscal note was a kind of a surprise. Mr. Chair. Okay. Thank you very much. Vote. Vote.

  29. Committee chair1:15:20

      Oh, I gotta vote first. All in favor? That motion say aye. Aye. Aye. Any? Thank you. Alright, we're gonna go.