Eagle Mountain Water Demand Projected To Pass Supply In 2049

[print-me/] The City Council on December 2, 2020, heard the findings of a study done by an engineering group on the future of the Eagle Mountain water system. The study found that if Eagle Mountain does not do something, they run the risk of having demand surpass the water supply by 2049. The report took into account the current water rights the city owns, the water demand projected to 2060, the existing water supply including groundwater and imported water, secondary water, and the impacts of the Cedar Valley aquifer for sustainable groundwater management. Water has always been a concern in Utah and as such, it is considered real property. “Water rights are classified as “real property” in the state of Utah and are bought and sold much like real estate. Many real estate agencies will have listings for water rights much as they do for properties.” [SOURCE] All waters in Utah are public property. A “water right” is a right to divert (remove from its natural source) and beneficially use water. Water was something that the early settlers of Utah were concerned about. “The Utah pioneers, in the late 1840’s, were the first Anglo-Saxons to practice irrigation on an extensive scale in the United States. Being a desert, Utah contained much more cultivable land than could be watered from the incoming mountain streams. The principle was established that those who first made beneficial use of water should be entitled to continued use in preference to those who came later. This fundamental principle was later sanctioned in law and is known as the Doctrine of Prior Appropriation. This means those holding water rights with the earliest priority dates, and who have continued beneficial use of the water, have the right to water from a certain source before others with water rights having later priority dates.” [SOURCE]

The project goal was to, “Create a plan for sustainable growth that ensures the stability of groundwater in Cedar Valley and helps with management of wastewater, while working within the limits of the City’s water rights.”

Councilmember Curtis, when asked, had this to say about the study and the future of Eagle Mountain’s water.

“The study shows that we need to make some changes in order to make sure we don’t adversely affect the Cedar Valley aquifer in the future. We will have to consider implementing water reuse programs, creating a secondary water system, encouraging xeriscaping, making adjustments to the water tier system and rates, and other options. City staff and elected officials will be investigating and ultimately additional data needs to be collected before any specific policy is implemented.”

The study looked at the water rates in the surrounding areas and found some interesting information. The study found that the current Eagle Mountain water rates are the lowest in the area. The cities website states the following, “Each year, the State of Utah requires that every municipality file a Water Conservation Report stating the municipality’s plan to conserve water within its boundaries. On July 6, 2010, the city council voted on a resolution to encourage businesses and institutions to reduce water usage and conserve water where possible. This resolution established a tiered water rate for Commercial & Institutional customers according to lot size, taking into account that certain subdivisions require larger lots.” [SOURCE] The study also shows that by the year 2050 Eagle Mountain water demand will surpass the paper water rights the city has of 30,198 ac-ft/yr. There is a difference between paper water rights and wet water rights. A paper water right says you can use the water, but you may not be actually using the water. An example would be someone who has a water right on their property, but they are not currently using it, they have not connected to a water source. The state has a use it or lose it type of law. “Because water in Utah is considered a scarce and valuable public resource, Utah’s laws have been designed to encourage full responsible development of water supplies and to discourage efforts to speculate in or monopolize the resource. As a result of this approach, it has been believed necessary to assure that those who acquire rights to the use of Utah’s water actually place it to beneficial use.” “Based on anticipated growth and current industrial water supply commitments, Eagle Mountain City’s total water demand will exceed its paper water rights in 2049.” It also found that “by 2029, Eagle Mountain City’s water demand will exceed the estimated sustainable supply and Central Utah Water Conservation District import water rate combined.” The following recommendations were made in the study:

• Finalize local limits for specific industries to achieve specific treatment and reuse objectives.
• Comprehensively evaluate water rights (resolve uncertainties).
• Raise industrial and residential water rates based on the outcome of a rate study.
• Work with CUWCD to secure additional supplies.
• Collect more data on groundwater levels across the region.
• Refine the estimated sustainable groundwater pumping rate through groundwater modeling.
• Study Cedar Valley geology to site future rapid infiltration basins (RIBs) and/or aquifer storage and recovery (ASR).
• Prepare a secondary water master plan.
• Consider advanced water treatment to reduce the total dissolved solids (TDS) in EMC’s water supply and wastewater.
• Improve conservation efforts to efficiently use existing water.

The study also included a next steps and timing table, which includes evaluation of the water rates, and implementing a tiered residential water rate by quarter three or four of the year 2021.

Copy of Study

Click to access EMC_Water_and_Reuse_Opt_Study_-_City_Council_Work_Session_120120__v3.pdf