AI-generated summary, not yet reviewed by Better Utah staff. Please consult the bill text.

This bill would create a new type of water right for livestock owners called a "sub-basin livestock watering claim," allowing a rancher or farmer to establish water rights across an entire defined drainage area rather than at fixed individual diversion points along a stream or spring. To obtain such a claim, a person would need to own the land or hold a grazing permit on public land, map and get state approval for the sub-basin boundary, and show that the water use is based on historically documented livestock watering that began before and has continued since the relevant water law took effect, with the claim capped at that historical usage level and subject to existing rules on advertising, protests, and proof of use. Within an approved sub-basin, water right holders could build small ponds (defined as holding two acre-feet of water or less) without filing additional paperwork, while larger ponds or wells would require a separate approved change application and compliance with dam safety standards; building any pond outside an approved sub-basin area would still require such approval. The bill also specifies that water cannot be shifted from one sub-basin to another if doing so would harm someone else's water rights, and that no sub-basin claim can be authorized without the water user's written consent or be used to increase water use beyond documented historical levels.