Utah has always lived with water scarcity. Our cities, farms and ecosystems all depend on winter snowpack. When the mountains receive abundant snow, they store water that sustains the state throughout the year.
When they do not, the consequences extend far beyond the high country, affecting nearly every aspect of life in Utah. This year has brought destructive wildfires, dust storms and prolonged heat — visible reminders of the challenges that follow an exceptionally dry winter, the driest snowpack year on record.
These problems naturally raise questions about Utah’s water future. Can we continue to thrive under increasing pressure on our water supplies? More importantly, is there a path forward that protects both our communities and the natural systems on which they depend?
There is practical hope — especially when individuals, communities, businesses and public institutions work together to strike a careful balance between growth, stewardship and the responsible management of Utah’s most precious and limited resource: fresh water.
The reality of the megadrought
The exceptionally dry winter of 2025-2026 occurred against the backdrop of a broader multidecade “megadrought” affecting the American West. Despite the record snowfall of 2022-2023, which produced flooding in some areas, one wet year does not erase a long-term trend. Research investigating these long-term trends shows that Utah’s climate in 1991-2020 was significantly warmer and drier than 1981-2010. In addition, human water use in agriculture and urban areas has increased significantly, as intense urban development increased by 140% since 1985.
The drying of the Great Salt Lake represents a culmination of these stresses on the freshwater supply. The area of exposed lake bed sediment has increased by more than 300% since 1990. Winds increasingly mobilize sediment particles rich in arsenic and other toxic materials that pose a public health risk to Utah’s growing population living downwind of the lake.
Given these realities, many Utahns feel concerned about the state’s water future. Yet concern alone rarely leads to meaningful change. Environmental problems often appear so large that individual efforts seem insignificant by comparison.
As an environmental scientist, I’m interested in sustainable solutions to major environmental problems. One of the most important lessons from both environmental science and public policy is that large-scale change frequently emerges from the cumulative effect of many small actions undertaken by individuals, organizations and institutions.
Environmental challenges are not solved by scientific evidence alone. Research can identify problems, quantify risks and evaluate solutions, but meaningful change also depends upon cultural values, social norms and trusted institutions.
Where faith meets environmental science
In Utah, few institutions have greater influence on public attitudes and behavior than The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Therefore, the church’s growing emphasis on environmental stewardship deserves attention from all Utah residents.
In recent years, the church has been a leader in conserving water in Utah. In 2022, Elder Gérald Caussé stated in general conference that “the care of the earth and of our natural environment is a sacred responsibility entrusted to us by God.”
At the 2023 Environmental Stewardship Conference in Brazil, Elder Caussé identified water conservation as one of six areas of institutional focus for the church. At a symposium on water conservation to preserve the Great Salt Lake in 2023, Bishop W. Christopher Waddell said, “We all play a part in preserving the critical resources needed to sustain life — especially water — and we invite others to join us in reducing water use wherever possible.”
This aligns well with principles that are widely recognized in environmental science: Humans depend on the earth to sustain life, and decisions made today affect the opportunities and quality of life available to future generations.
Scaling solutions from meetinghouses to data centers
The church’s emphasis on wise financial and environmental stewardship has been accompanied by practical conservation measures. In his 2023 address, Bishop Waddell highlighted efforts undertaken by the church to reduce water consumption. These include the use of soil-moisture probes and precision irrigation technologies on church-owned farms, installing smart irrigation controllers at more than 3,000 meetinghouses throughout the Intermountain West, installing rain sensors and drip irrigation systems at many newer facilities, and replacing significant amounts of turf landscaping with water-wise species.
Conservation measures at church headquarters alone saved approximately 40 million gallons of water annually between 2018 and 2022, while water use at meetinghouses in Salt Lake County declined by 35% between 2020 and 2022.
Perhaps most significant, the church donated water shares to benefit the Great Salt Lake. State officials described this as the largest permanent donation of water to the lake ever received by the state, with a volume roughly equivalent to the annual water use of 20,000 single-family homes. Further details of church-instituted environmental and financial stewardship programs globally are available at a new website.
Whether one views environmental stewardship through the lens of faith, civic responsibility, economic prudence or scientific evidence, these efforts demonstrate an important principle: Large institutions can play a meaningful role in addressing environmental challenges when their actions align with their stated values. They also exemplify that individuals, businesses, municipalities and other organizations can adapt to their own circumstances. (Visit SlowTheFlow.org for ideas for household water conservation).
The question is not whether one individual can solve Utah’s water challenges that lie ahead. No single person can. The more relevant question is whether millions of individual decisions, reinforced by communities and institutions, can collectively make a difference. History suggests they can. Decisions about enormous industrial projects such as the proposed Box Elder County data center and increasing demands on finite water resources will require thorough investigation, management and sustained conservation efforts at all levels of Utah society.
Future generations will inherit the consequences of the choices made today. If Utah is to preserve its water resources, protect public health, sustain agricultural productivity and maintain the quality of life that has attracted people to the state, stewardship must become more than an abstract principle. It must become a practical commitment expressed through everyday decisions about how water and other natural resources are used.