natural resources
CURRENT WATER ISSUES IN UTAH REPORT RELEASED
An Update to Past LWV of Utah Water Studies
While Utah has experienced a banner winter for snow, it will not undo 20+ years of drought or address future water needs as the population grows and temperatures rise. This report is an update of previous League studies done in 2009 and 2015. Much has happened in the last several years related to water laws, agricultural water use and conservation efforts. The report focuses on two critical systems, Great Salt Lake and the Colorado River. It concludes that all water users (with special consideration for the native tribes that have been previously left out of conversations) will need to work together to develop an equitable water budget that reflects the hydrological realities in the state.
You have heard the news - the Great Salt Lake is at an historic low. Its impact in Utah is far reaching -- industry, historic value, air quality, migration patterns, brine shrimp. The League of Women Voters of Davis County held a general meeting with Representative Timothy Hawkes (Utah District 28) on what this means and what steps can be taken. Watch the video.
The League’s Position
LWV of United States Impact on Issues 2022-2024
Promote an environment beneficial to life through the protection and wise management of natural resources in the public interest.
Resource Management
Promote the management of natural resources as interrelated parts of life-supporting ecosystems. Promote resource conservation, stewardship, and long-range planning, with the responsibility for managing natural resources shared by all levels of government. Preserve the physical, chemical, and biological integrity of the ecosystem with maximum protection of public health and the environment.
Environmental Protection and Pollution Control
The League supports the preservation of the physical, chemical, and biological integrity of the ecosystem and maximum protection of public health and the environment.
Air Quality Promote measures to reduce pollution from mobile and stationary sources.
Energy. Support environmentally sound policies that reduce energy growth rates, emphasize energy conservation,and encourage the use of renewable resources.
Land Use. Promote policies that manage land as a finite resource and that incorporate principles of stewardship.
Water. Support measures to reduce pollution in order to protect surface water, groundwater, and drinking water, and set up a process to evaluate inter-basin water transfers.
Waste Management. Promote policies to reduce the generation of solid and hazardous wastes and promote their reuse and recycling.
Nuclear. Promote the maximum protection of public health and safety and the environment.
Transfer of Federal Public Lands
Promote policies that keep federal public lands under the jurisdiction of the federal government.
Climate Change
Support climate goals and policies that are consistent with the best available climate science and that will ensure a stable climate system for future generations.
Public Participation
Promote public understanding and participation in decision making as essential elements of responsible and responsive management of our natural resources.
Federal Agriculture Policies
Support environmentally sound farm practices, and increased reliance on the free market while promoting adequate supplies of food at reasonable prices and regulations to all animal and aquaculture production. Enforce federal antitrust laws to ensure competitive agricultural markets, provide financial support to subsidize agriculture in specific instances. Support the federal government’s funding of basic agricultural research to ensure adequate safety of our food supply.