Utah River Council opposes the creation of a water conservancy district in Cache County

Members of the Cache County Council are hoping voters will approve the creation of a water conservancy district now that the issue will officially be on the November ballot. In addition to the council, other groups have spoken in favor of a district.

One group, however, is adamantly opposed to water conservancy districts: the Utah River Council, a state-wide organization. Zac Frankel, executive director of the council, said there are more than 20 conservancy districts in Utah and there were 36 lobbyists asking for more water for those districts at the latest legislative session.

“We estimate that it was a million dollar lobbying campaign,” exclaimed Frankel on <a href=”http://610kvnu.com/assets/podcaster/324/2016_09_16_324_49249_2867.mp3″ target=”_blank”>KVNU’s For the People program</a>. “What they got out of that is they passed another sales tax, a permanent sales tax dedication to water, to pay themselves money.

“What we see in the legislature is more lobbyists representing water than any other special interest. And (those are) the proponents behind the effort to start a water district in Cache County.”

Frankel said a water conservancy district is a good example of taxation without representation. He encouraged local residents to study the issue thoroughly before approving it.

A member of the Cache County Council strongly disagrees with the Utah River Council, an organization that has taken a stand against creation of a water conservancy district in Cache County.

Jon White, a resident of Paradise, says Frankel’s claim that a district would raise the county’s water budget from around $150,000 a year to around $1.1 million a year is wrong.

White says those owning a home valued at around $200,000 would pay approximately $10.80 more a year in taxes. And that money, White says, would be used to preserve sufficient water for future generations.

“I look at it like the old pioneers: they came in here, they worked, they developed the water system that we have now, they built the dams,” White exclaims. “Maybe it’s time for us to step up and ensure that same thing for our future generations.

“Once this water is gone, once it gets reallocated to Salt Lake or somewhere else down south, we’ll never get it back.”

White says if a city or individual wanted to build something in the county, the only water available now is allocated to agriculture. He says almost every other county in Utah already has a water conservancy district.

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