The Jordan River meets Utah Lake in Saratoga Springs on Tuesday, March 1, 2022. The Utah Lake Jordan River Water Rights General Adjudication is one of the oldest and biggest General Adjudications in the state.This story is part of The Salt Lake Tribune’s ongoing commitment to identify solutions to Utah’s biggest challenges through the work of the Innovation Lab.
Currently, any district court judge in Utah can be assigned to a water law case, even if it’s not the judge’s specialty. The problem with this, Martin says, is that it’s led to “inconsistent decisions and inconsistent approaches” on Utah water cases. And Appleby acknowledges not every district judge is equipped to deal with water disputes.
“We don’t set water law policy, but we make decisions that have far-reaching consequences,” Appleby said. “I mean, it’s deciding the rights to use one of our most precious public resources.”to the state’s water law during the 2022 Legislative session. However, the majority of water policies haven’t been updated since they were created decades, and in some cases, centuries ago.
Appleby predicts district court judges that already have water cases on their docket will volunteer to fill the water judge role. Water rights change application disagreements would also fall to the water judges. When someone files a change application, a slew of boxes must be checked before the state engineer gives the green light — and denying or approving an application change can spark a legal battle.
“Having water judges who are knowledgeable and conversant in those intricate legal concepts will be valuable to the public at large,” he said, “and, more specifically, to the water users who are directly dependent on the equitable application of water law.”Another critique presented by commenters, including Martin, was they would like to see more than three judges tackling water cases.
“Elevating a trial court decision to the level of Appellate Court precedents, I don’t think is the best idea at this point,” Martin noted, “because every one of these cases is different.” Cowan has 18 months to settle water lawsuits to avoid trial. More than 90% of the time, Cowan says the water case in question never makes it to trial because the referee process is successful. But if the respective parties fail to agree on a solution, the case goes on the judge’s docket and gets set for trial.
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