Farmers and irrigation stockholders consider water shares to be precious real property, and they don't like government messing with them.
Government, however, says it needs to provide water for its residents and cannot do so if the agricultural community controls it all. Government takes the position that water belongs to everybody and farmers should only have what they need.The two philosophies often clash in a battle that usually ends up in court. The familiar tale is currently being played out in Provo, where farmers are opposed to a city ordinance that could affect the way they buy, sell and use water.
The ordinance, approved by the City Council this week, requires property owners to tender water shares to the city as a condition of developing their land. Every other major city in Utah County, except Orem, has a similar ordinance.
The new ordinance replaces an earlier water-share ordinance approved by the council in January that expires July 4. That ordinance had a sunset clause because many council members were uncomfortable with its wording. The new ordinance also contains a 90-day sunset clause because council members again are concerned about some wording.
Without such an ordinance, however, city officials believe developers from other cities will continue to buy water shares from Provo landowners to satisfy another city's ordinance. In the past few years a lot of water historically used in Provo has been transferred to other parts of the county. Merril Bingham, public works director, said the ordinance gives Provo property owners incentive to keep water shares with their land. Once the city owns the water, state law prohibits the city from selling it.
"There's a frenzy out there to obtain water to meet development needs and the arena is the whole county," Bingham said.
The ordinance approved Tuesday differs from the first ordinance in that it allows the city to accept cash in lieu of water. Also, those who sold water to the city in the past will be given credit for that water.
Farmers and irrigation companies say the city cannot tell them what to do with their water, which is real property.