![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() They include concepts like water banking, which pools bought or leased water rights and rents the resource to those facing shortages. In 2016, Clyde wrote awhite paper offering solutions he considers “less draconian” than the public trust doctrine. “We would literally have to sue everybody in the drainage, because every diversion is impacting the lake.” “It’s not a gamble I think is wise to run,” Clyde said. Utah has its own history and politics that set it apart from states like California. It’s the worst of all the horrible solutions.”Īnd lawsuits carry risk, because no one truly knows what the courts will decide. “We have an awful lot of people who are dependent on that water. “All the water has been appropriated and applied for beneficial use” in the Great Salt Lake basin, Clyde said. If the public trust doctrine were applied to the Great Salt Lake, it would have to be done so uniformly to every tributary, including the Bear, Weber, Jordan and Provo rivers, along with everything in between, argued Utah water rights attorney Steven Clyde. “So who do you target a public trust challenge?” de Freitas wondered. In Utah, a patchwork of cities, towns, agricultural fields and industries across the watershed have dropped the Great Salt Lake by as much as 11 feet, according to a Utah State University analysis. that could be obliged to reduce its consumption. At Mono Lake, the culprit depleting the lake was clear: a single utility in L.A. One complication is how, exactly, the public trust doctrine would solve the Great Salt Lake’s problems. “ was far simpler,” McQuilkin conceded, “than the multiple water right holders and complexities that are at the Great Salt Lake.” So could someone apply the public trust doctrine in Utah to save the Great Salt Lake? Now L.A.’s water utility has to scale back its diversions until Mono Lake reaches a sustainable level. The Mono Lake decision was the first time the public trust argument secured a lake’s right to exist. history, mostly to settle issues of water access. Various courts in various states have applied the doctrine throughout U.S. The concept of a public trust has its roots in English law, and may date as far back as the Roman Empire. They took their case all the way to the California Supreme Court in the 1980s using that public trust doctrine argument. That doesn’t meet the public trust obligation of the state to protect resources for future generations.” “What we see is Mono Lake being destroyed. “We basically said, ‘Hey, the state is in charge of water rights and you gave these water rights,” said Geoff McQuilkin, executive director of the Mono Lake Committee. ![]()
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