Utah is anti-Farmer, anti-Home Builder & Pro-Federal Control of Utah's Water

3 years ago
159

In 1930, 1 farmer produced the food for 4 people. In 1970, 1 farmer produced food for 73 people. In 2019, 1 farmer produces the food for 155 people. So why does conservative Utah treat its hardworking farmers so unfairly? Because Utah's Water Cartel has mislead the Governor's Office, Legislature and Courts. The Water Cartel sits on the Water Task Force which has been re-writing Utah's water laws against farmers and for Public Water Providers.

Without farmers there would be no cities. So what's the fix? To treat Public Food Providers (farmers) as equals to Public Water Providers, because food is as critical to life as water.

The legislative fix is simple by including irrigation companies and farmers as Public Water Suppliers by definition and "irrigation" as a type of water supplied a Public Water Suppliers.

Also, simply state in Title 73 (the Water code) that farmers and irrigation company shall enjoy all and every right equally to the use of water as a Public Water Supplier.

"73-1-4(1)(b) "Public water supplier" means an entity that: (i) supplies water, directly or indirectly, to the public for municipal, domestic, [add "irrigation'"] or industrial use.

In 54-2-1(36) (b) "Water system" does [delete "not"] not include private irrigation companies engaged in distributing water only to their stockholders."

If a farmer saves water, the State Engineer takes it away and gives it to the Water Cartel and the Federal Government.

If the Water Cartel and Federal Government save water, the State Engineer lets them keep it which they sell for more money.

If a farmer turns a share of Provo Reservoir for development into Pleasant Grove, he gets a 6 acre-feet credit, into American Fork, he gets 5 acre-feet credit, into Highland, he gets 4 acre-feet credit, into Lehi, he gets 3.5 acre-feet credit.

When the Cartel uses a Provo Res share they get more than 6 acre-feet of water.

A Utah County farmer with the same soil, same crop, same seed, same elevation, and same number of growing days gets 25% less water from the State Engineer than a Salt Lake County farmer. Both farmers are in the same water basin.

Utah, the conservative North Star of the West, is further Left on water policy than San Francisco.

Senior water rights owned by farmers are under attack by Federal junior water rights and the Utah Division of Water Rights.

After the 2008 HB51 (Senator Dayton and Representative Patrick Painter water bill), the State lost control of Utah's water to the water cartel - the Big 9 Water Buffaloes who are -

US Bureau of Reclamation, Central Utah Water Dist, SLC, Metro SLC & Sandy Water Dist, Sandy, Provo River Water Dist, Jordan Valley Water Dist, Weber Basin Water Dist, Washington County Water District.

Utah's biggest water buffalo myth - Utah's running out of water.

Of the 60 million acre-feet (af) of water Utah gets annually from precipitation, 1 million af is used by all Utah's 246 cities and 5 million acre-feet by all Utah's farmers.

In other words, Utah deplete 5% of its annual precipitation and diverts 10% of its annual precipitation. We have a water management shortage not a water shortage.

Of the 6 million diverted, 25% leaks from city water lines and canals before being beneficially used.

Utah leaks 1.5 million acre-feet of water enough for 4 million new people.

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