Advancing the Integration of Water and Land Planning Activities of Municipalities and Counties Across the State of Utah
Integrating water considerations into land planning presents a significant opportunity to reduce Municipal and Industrial water use.
Too often, land use planning is undertaken independently of water use and planning efforts, even though the two can and should inform one another.
Integrating these two processes from the beginning of any development proposal is cost-effective, whereas retrofitting existing development for water efficiency is expensive.
Integrated Water and Land Use Framework Resource materials can be accessed under the “How” tab below.
Northern Utah Growing Water Smart Workshop
June 6-8, 2023
The Division of Water Resources is pleased to support the
Utah Growing Water Smart Program in conjunction with
Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy, a Center of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy,
Western Resource Advocates, and
Utah State University’s Center for Water-Efficient Landscaping.
Northern Utah Growing Water Smart Retreat Workshop
A retreat workshop is scheduled for June 6-8, 2023 on the Utah State University campus. This event focuses on counties and municipalities in northern Utah located in the Great Salt lake watershed. Participants should plan to dedicate Tuesday through Thursday to this working event. Click the Growing Water Smart button above for more details and how to apply.
First Utah Growing Water Smart Workshop Completed
The Growing Water Smart workshop brings key community staff and decision-makers on water and land use planning together to collaborate to build a more resilient and sustainable water future. Team members commit to one another to actively participate in all sessions of the workshop. The workshop uses a range of public engagement, planning, communication and policy implementation tools to help community teams realize their water efficiency, smart growth, watershed health and water resiliency goals.
The first Growing Water Smart workshop brought together elected officials, county and city leaders and planners, along with water providers from Weber, Davis, Summit, Salt Lake and Utah counties for three days of working sessions. Five teams from counties in northern Utah participated in the mid-November workshop.
Participant teams created an action plan specific to their community that included water considerations in their planning process. They have access to support resources from the consulting team to implement their action plan.
To support responsible growth in Utah communities
As we adapt to a changing climate alongside population and economic growth, we must build resiliency into our water demand and planning efforts. This requires adjusting water use habits in ways that provide for responsible growth. Acknowledging Great Salt Lake as a beneficial user is one of the first steps toward responsible growth planning.
There is broad consensus within the water community that optimizing and reducing demand for urban (municipal, commercial, institutional, and industrial) water use is critical to ensuring that Utah’s limited water supply can equitably meet the needs of people, agriculture, business and nature. Integrated water and land planning is the foundation for effective water use policies.
A program to help communities integrate water into planning considerations
Integrating water into land planning at the concept and design stages of development planning creates an opportunity to significantly reduce municipal and industrial (M&I) water use. Too often, land use planning is undertaken independently of water use planning efforts, even though the two can and should inform one another.
Utah Growing Water Smart is one way for communities to begin water and land use planning integration. The Utah Legislature passed SB110, Water as Part of General Plan, during the 2022 session. SB110 enacts Utah Code 73-10-36 and modifies the Municipal Land Use, Development and Management Act and the County Land Use, Development and Management Act to require a municipal or county general plan provide for the efficient and economical use, conservation and production of the supply of water. While some communities have begun such an effort, there are many opportunities to improve water efficiencies, reduce M&I water use and advance coordinated water and land use planning even beyond the general or master plan.
Strengthening the nexus of land use and water planning and advancing efforts to optimize and reduce M&I water use have been advocated in the following reports:
- Envision Utah’s 2017 Recommended State Water Strategy
- Utah Legislature’s 2020 State Water Policy
- The Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands’ Great Salt Lake Resolution
- Great Salt Lake Advisory Council studies and reports
Start including water considerations at the beginning of the planning process
Following on the footsteps of the Great Salt Lake HCR10 Steering Group Recommendations, the Utah legislature allocated funding beginning July 1, 2022 to assist municipalities and counties in their efforts to incorporate water into their land planning processes.
Phase 1 – Integrated Water and Land Use Planning Framework
Phase 1 was funded through the Great Salt Lake Advisory Council in 2021. During Phase 1, The Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy and Western Resource Advocates developed a framework for Integrated Water and Land Use Planning. The Framework for Community Action illustrates the many ways communities can better integrate water and land use planning. It includes four stages and resources to aid in implementation. Two additional resources–a Stakeholder Checklist and the Community Self-Assessment–provide tangible guidance for communities to form a team for integrating water and land use and to track their progress on integration activities.
The materials for the Framework for Community Action can be found here. You can access each document separately below, or as one complete pdf here.
A Phase 1 progress update was presented to the Utah Water Task Force at the November 2021 meeting.
The November 2022 Growing Water Smart Workshop Guidebook provides resources to bring water resource management and land use planning into alignment, allowing Utah communities to shift to implementing integrated water and land use planning.
Phase 2 – Collaborative Implementation
Phase 2 of the Integrating Water and Land Planning Project builds upon the work completed in Phase 1. Using the Utah Integrated Water and Land Use Planning Assessment Framework and materials developed in Phase 1, Phase 2 focuses on collaborative approaches guided by facilitators in a workshop setting. Example cases that demonstrate successful programs are presented.
Planners, water managers, developers, locally elected officials and other key stakeholders are brought together to examine the results of their community self-assessment. Small group discussion sessions are used to develop their ideas into practices for integrating water planning with land use and economic planning processes. Opportunities for collaboration across stakeholder groups occur during the three-day workshop in Phase 2.
Opportunities for communities to participate in workshops
If your municipality or county is interested in learning more, or participating in a facilitated workshop to find ways to better integrate water considerations into planning processes, please contact the Division of Water Resources at: waterandland@utah.gov.
QUESTIONS? Contact waterandland@utah.gov