This document includes House Committee Amendments incorporated into the bill on Tue, Feb 25, 2020 at 8:00 AM by pflowers.
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7 LONG TITLE
8 General Description:
9 This bill addresses data related to water including water losses.
10 Highlighted Provisions:
11 This bill:
12 ▸ requires the creation of a working group to address how to implement standardized
13 water loss accounting practices;
14 ▸ requires reporting and recommendations;
15 ▸ lists concepts to be included in developing recommendations; and
16 ▸ provides a repeal date.
17 Money Appropriated in this Bill:
18 None
19 Other Special Clauses:
20 None
21 Utah Code Sections Affected:
22 ENACTS:
23 63I-2-273, Utah Code Annotated 1953
24 73-1-20, Utah Code Annotated 1953
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26 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
27 Section 1. Section 63I-2-273 is enacted to read:
28 63I-2-273. Repeal dates -- Title 73.
29 Section 73-1-20 is repealed on July 1, 2021.
30 Section 2. Section 73-1-20 is enacted to read:
31 73-1-20. Study of water loss accounting.
32 (1) As used in this section:
33 (a) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of agriculture and food.
34 (b) "Executive director" means the executive director of the Department of Natural
35 Resources.
36 (c) "Utah Water Task Force" means a task force created by the Department of Natural
37 Resources to review and make recommendations regarding water issues.
38 (2) (a) The executive director and the commissioner shall jointly form a working group
39 from the water community with:
40 (i) expertise in the areas of:
41 (A) water utility service;
42 (B) water loss accounting and water loss control practices; or
43 (C) water infrastructure planning; or
44 (ii) other qualifying experience as considered appropriate by the executive director and
45 commissioner.
46 (b) The executive director and commissioner shall jointly designate the working group
47 chair from the members of the working group. The working group shall comply with Title 52,
48 Chapter 4, Open and Public Meetings Act.
49 (3) The working group shall investigate, study, and develop recommendations on how
50 to implement standardized water loss accounting practices with reporting results and
51 potentially incorporating the data into a water conservation plan.
52 (4) (a) The working group is to report the working group's findings and
53 recommendations to the Utah Water Task Force Ĥ→ and the Legislative Water Development
53a Commission ←Ĥ by October 1, 2020.
54 (b) The executive director and commissioner shall report the Utah Water Task Force's
55 findings and recommendations to the Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Interim
56 Committee at either the October or November 2020 interim committee meeting, as determined
57 by the chairs of the Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Interim Committee.
58 (5) The concepts that the working group and the executive director and commissioner
59 shall consider when developing recommendations for the Natural Resources, Agriculture, and
60 Environment Interim Committee include:
61 (a) the promotion of improved understanding of water system losses, water delivery
62 efficiency, and the conservation of water delivered by public retail water suppliers by the use of
63 water loss accounting practices;
64 (b) the development of reliable information from consistent reporting requirements,
65 and to recommend how the information may be used at state wholesale and retail levels;
66 (c) a recommendation of appropriate roles for the state wholesale and retail public
67 water suppliers to encourage water delivery efficiency and water conservation from water loss
68 accounting at each level;
69 (d) a recommendation of appropriate levels of funding for state wholesale and retail
70 conservation measures and improved water delivery efficiency resulting from water loss
71 accounting practices;
72 (e) a recommendation of potential changes to Section 73-10-32, to implement plans for
73 water conservation from water loss accounting practices, including the authorization of
74 rulemaking authority, if necessary, and water loss accounting reporting requirements, including
75 a validity score on submitted data;
76 (f) a recommendation for the frequency of water loss accounting audits, as well as
77 recommendation for the use of annual validated water use reports to the state engineer;
78 (g) a recommendation of which entities should be required to submit water loss
79 accounting audits based on size, region, or both size and region;
80 (h) a potential recommendation of the appropriate role for a state technical advisory
81 committee and whether this state technical advisory committee should have counterparts at the
82 wholesale and retail levels; and
83 (i) estimating the amount of water losses and associated revenue losses that can
84 reasonably be recovered through water loss control activities.