The nation’s fastest-growing and second-driest state had a banner year for water conservation as it plays catch-up to the rest of the West.
By Mark Olalde, ProPublica
Utah policymakers billed the 2022 legislative session as the “year of water.” Gov. Spencer Cox signed into law more than 15 measures related to water conservation, heralding “generational” progress as the West’s megadrought continues well into its third decade.
Those pieces of legislation allow farmers to earn money by sending their water downstream to shrinking lakes, require water meters for landscaping, appropriate $40 million to protect the Great Salt Lake and more. But perhaps more telling were proposals that lawmakers carved up or voted down.

Legislators in the country’s fastest-growing and second-driest state rejected a bill meant to address leaky pipes. New laws aimed at mandating low-flow plumbing both in state facilities and new homes had to be scaled back to win passage. And regulations on Utah’s lush green lawns remained largely off-limits, as interest groups stalled or rewrote bills targeting grass.
Recent Posts
Visits Of Justice: Stella Assange’s Plea To Australia
May 29, 2023
Take Action Now “Julian is lying in his cell, probably awake and struggling to fall asleep. It’s where he spends twenty-two hours a day, every…
No Parade For Me: On Getting Memorial Day Wrong
May 29, 2023
Take Action Now The days has too often and for too many become an expression of faux patriotism that further exploits the sacrifices of the slain and…
What Can I Do To Prevent Nuclear War? You Can Shout ‘No’ Now!
May 28, 2023
Take Action Now We’ve done 31 War Abolition Walks in Madison since April 2022 to call for an end to the war in Ukraine, and all war. By Janet…
Henry Kissinger, War Criminal, Is Somehow Still Alive
May 27, 2023
Take Action Now Much of the world views Kissinger as a war criminal – yet in the US, surrounded by powerful friends, he is feted as a…