AI-generated summary. We recommend consulting the bill text for important decisions.

Two targeted changes to Utah water law affect how water rights in the lower Colorado River Basin — the portion of the river system below Lee's Ferry in Arizona — are managed. First, the bill exempts water conservancy districts (regional public water agencies) from losing their water rights due to nonuse, as long as those rights are tied to the lower basin, whether the district currently uses the water, holds state approval to use it, or plans to use it and can demonstrate that intent with a signed statement from its general manager. Second, the bill prohibits anyone other than certain state divisions — and bars even those divisions from using a specific reservoir-delivery process — from filing applications to convert water rights into instream flows (water kept flowing in a stream rather than diverted for human use) when the diversion point is located in the lower basin. Water conservancy districts in southern Utah, like the Washington County Water Conservancy District, are most directly affected, as they can now hold lower basin water rights indefinitely without risking forfeiture even during extended periods of nonuse.