With a rapidly growing population and strained water supplies, Utah lawmakers and conservation groups debate how to best replenish the state's water sources.

Utah policymakers are facing increasing urgency to conserve and replenish water supplies in the state as its population grows faster than any other state's and groundwater supplies dwindle. As Brett Walton reports, state officials are proposing pipeline projects that would bring water from distant sources. "But public interest advocates assert that spending billions of dollars to build pipelines to transport water from distant sources is foolish."
Each pipeline project raises questions that are fundamental to life in the arid western United States, and essential for Utahans to consider before the current homebuilding spree establishes land use and development patterns that will influence water demand for a generation: How do growing communities live with limited water? And will past behaviors be adapted to new climate and demographic realities?
Conservationists argue the state can do more to reduce water usage and curb waste before building new pipelines and reservoirs that could damage the environment, use taxpayer funds, and provide only short-term solutions to the state's growing water crisis. According to Walton, "In 2019, the Utah Legislature ordered a report on actions that could help preserve the Great Salt Lake and its wetlands." The report outlined several recommended conservation measures, including: "expanded metering of residential irrigation water, better data collection to understand how water is being used, bringing land-use planners and water providers together, reducing lawn sizes."
FULL STORY: Utah has a water dilemma

Rethinking Redlining
For decades we have blamed 100-year-old maps for the patterns of spatial racial inequity that persist in American cities today. An esteemed researcher says: we’ve got it all wrong.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

California High-Speed Rail's Plan to Right Itself
The railroad's new CEO thinks he can get the project back on track. The stars will need to align this summer.

US Senate Reverses California EV Mandate
The state planned to phase out the sale of gas-powered cars by 2035, a goal some carmakers deemed impossible to meet.

Trump Cuts Decimate Mapping Agency
The National Geodetic Survey maintains and updates critical spatial reference systems used extensively in both the public and private sectors.

Washington Passes First US ‘Shared Streets’ Law
Cities will be allowed to lower speed limits to 10 miles per hour and prioritize pedestrians on certain streets.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions