Utah's water rights adjudication process

Last week the Utah Supreme Court issued an opinion, In the Matter of the General Determination of Rights to the Use of Water, which provides an excellent summation of Utah's water rights adjudication process.

I. GENERAL ADJUDICATION OF WATER RIGHTS IN UTAH

¶4 "Utah, along with the majority of western states, follows the appropriation doctrine: First in time, first in right for beneficial use is the basis of the acquisition of water rights." Estate of Steed v. New Escalante Irrigation Co., 846 P.2d 1223, 1224 (Utah 1992). "This court has likened 'a drop of water [to] a drop of gold.'" Longley v. Leucadia Fin. Corp., 2000 UT 69, ¶ 15, 9 P.3d 762 (alteration in original) (quoting Carbon Canal Co. v. Sanpete Water Users Ass'n, 425 P.2d 405, 407 (Utah 1967)). Because water is so highly valued, disputes over water rights are inevitable and frequent. Due to the high volume of such disputes and the often technical nature of the process followed to resolve them, Utah law empowers the state engineer to analyze and settle competing water rights claims. See Utah Code Ann. §§ 73-4-1 to -24 (1989).(1) However, when a meritorious request for a large scale determination of water rights is made "by five or more or a majority of water users upon any stream or water source," the state engineer is required to initiate a general adjudication in state district court to resolve all competing claims to water use in the area. Id. § 73-4-1; see also id. § 73-4-18 (allowing district courts to initiate a general adjudication in certain situations).

¶5 "[T]he purpose of the general adjudication process is to prevent piecemeal litigation regarding water rights and to provide a permanent record of all such rights by decree." In re San Raphael River Drainage Area, 844 P.2d 287, 289 (Utah 1992). General adjudication of water rights is a creature of statute, and title 73, chapter 4 of the Utah Code outlines the procedure the litigation should follow.

¶6 When a general adjudication is initiated, the state engineer notifies all known water rights holders and provides public notice of the adjudication by publication. Utah Code Ann. § 73-4-4. After the state engineer provides notice, all individuals and entities are required to submit any water rights claims within the area in question to the state engineer. Id. § 73-4-5. Following the submission of water rights claims, the state engineer conducts a hydrographic survey of the water system and evaluates the submitted claims. Id. § 73-4-3. When the survey is complete and all of the submitted claims have been evaluated, the state engineer then prepares a proposed determination of water rights for the area. Id. § 73-4-11.

¶7 Once a proposed determination has been created, section 73-4-11 of the Utah Code provides that a copy of that determination "shall be mailed by regular mail to each claimant with notice that any claimant dissatisfied therewith may within ninety days from such date of mailing file with the clerk of the district court a written objection thereto duly verified on oath." If no objection has been filed to a proposed determination, or if all objections have been resolved, the district court must enter judgment rendering the proposed determination the final adjudication of water rights for the given area. Id. § 73-4-12; see also Plain City Irrigation Co. v. Hooper Irrigation Co., 51 P.2d 1069, 1073 (Utah 1935) (noting that judgment should not be entered until all protests "have been disposed of and determined").