[natureinspiredParticipant Karma: 1 pt]

I think the biggest problem is that Utah’s data for the projections of what our water use will be like is based on a flawed water baseline survey from 2000 (http://le.utah.gov/audit/15_01rpt.pdf). The methods for gathering data in the 2000 study weren’t documented well, so they’re not repeatable, and there’s no way of knowing how accurate the study was done. Also, the way local water use data is collected isn’t consistent or supervised, making that data unreliable.

The mentality of water use itself is a big problem in Utah. People are stuck in the “use it or lose it” ways of the early farming pioneers. The water rights in UT cause water that stays in a stream or lake to be labeled as “not doing anything beneficial” because of that old mentality. This means that if, for example, a conservationist farmer (if there is such a thing) buys his rights but then lets some of the water he bought stay in the stream, the water right for that water can be lost (http://cdmbuntu.lib.utah.edu/cdm/ref/collection/upcat/id/1927). It is not only the hard facts that Utah combats with conserving water, it is an entire way of thought and life that has existed for generations.

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