AREA 31 - DAVIS COUNTY

Updated: November 3, 2022

Recent changes and additions in red text

  MANAGEMENT

Five Proposed Determination of Water Rights books have been published. Four were published for the Southern Davis Division in 1966, and one for the Centerville Division on 1970. No final decrees have been issued. There are no state-administered distribution systems in this area. Click here to see statistics for this area.

  SOURCES

Surface Water - Surface waters are generally considered to be fully appropriated. New diversions and consumptive uses in these sources must be accomplished by change applications filed on existing rights. Non-consumptive use applications, such as hydroelectric power generation, will be considered on their individual merits.

Ground Water - There is a limited ground-water resource available. New appropriations from the principle aquifer are limited to 1.0 acre-foot per year for fixed-time periods in areas not served by a public supply system. Said filings are to connect to public supply systems when they are available. Large projects must be accomplished by change applications on existing rights. Changes from surface to underground sources, and vice versa, are also considered on their individual merits, with emphasis on their potential to interfere with existing rights and to ensure that there is no enlargement of the underlying rights. Applicants are placed on notice that development should be pursued as soon as possible. Extension of time requests will be critically reviewed beyond the initial five year period. Applications from the shallow aquifer (30 feet or less) are reviewed on their individual merits.

Governor's Proclamation 2022-01 - On November 3, 2022, Governor Spencer Cox issued a proclamation suspending new appropriations of surplus and unappropriated waters in the Great Salt Lake Basin pursuant to Utah Code 73-6-1. To read the press release from the Governor's office, click here. To read the proclamation, click here. A report on the proclamation to suspend appropriations in Great Salt Lake Basin was published on November 22, 2023 and can be read here. To view a map of areas subject to the proclamation, click here.

The following are excepted from the effect of this proclamation:
  1. applications for non-consumptive uses,
  2. applications that include a mitigation plan to offset depletion, and
  3. applications for small amounts of water, as defined in Utah Code 73-3-5.6, that comply with State Engineer basin policies.
All such applications remain subject to all applicable requirements of state law.

  GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT PLANS

There are two groundwater management plans in place for Area 31 with the objective to guide future development, establish policy on new appropriations of water, protect the resource from over-utilization and preserve water quality:

  • Bountiful Sub-Area of the East Shore Area

    This plan went into effect January 4, 1995. Its coverage area is defined as follows: The southern boundary is the Davis-Salt Lake County line, the north boundary is the Centerville City-Farmington City line, the east boundary is the Wasatch Range, and the western boundary is the Jordan River and Farmington Bay.

  • Weber Delta Sub-Area of the East Shore Area

    This plan went into effect on October 31, 1995. The area includes those portions of Weber and Davis counties bounded by the Weber-Box Elder County line on the north, the edge of the valley fill on the east, the Farmington-Centerville line on the south, and the Great Salt Lake on the west.

  GENERAL

Applications are advertised in the Davis County Clipper. The general irrigation diversion duty for this area, which the State Engineer uses for evaluation purposes, is 4.0 acre-feet per acre per year. The consumptive use requirement is determined from the publication Consumptive Use of Irrigated Crops in Utah, Research Report 145, Utah State University, 1994. This area is administered by the Weber River Regional Office in Salt Lake City.

Other requirements

The Water Right applicant is strongly cautioned that other permits may be required before any physical development of a project can begin and it is the responsibility of the applicant to determine the applicability of and acquisition of such permits. In order to avoid delays and ensure that Water Right approvals conform to applicable local ordinances, applicants should contact local governmental entities in advance to determine what ordinances are in place that affect the proposed project and to make sure that Water Right filings conform to those ordinances. The approval of a Water Right application does not imply any approval of a project by any other governmental entity. Approval of the project proposed in the Water Right application should be obtained from local governmental entities as necessary to implement a project.

  REFERENCES

Technical Publication No. 5, Ground Water in the East Shore Area, Utah: Part I, Bountiful District, Davis County; Utah State Engineer; 1948.

Technical Publication No. 35, Ground-water Conditions in the East Shore Area, Box Elder, Davis, and Weber Counties, Utah, 1960-69; Utah Department of Natural Resources; 1972.

Technical Publication No. 90, Seepage Studies of the Weber River and the Davis-Weber and Ogden Valley Canals, Davis and Weber Counties, Utah, 1985; Utah Department of Natural Resources; 1987.

Technical Publication No. 93, Ground-Water Resources of the East Shore Area of the Great Salt Lake, Utah, and Simulated Effects of Ground-Water Withdrawals; Utah Department of Natural Resources; 1990.

Technical Publication No. 95, Ground-Water Resources and Simulated Effects of withdrawals in the Bountiful Area, Utah; Utah Department of Natural Resources; 1991.

Basic Data Report No. 1, Records and Water-Level Measurements of Selected Wells and Chemical Analyses of Ground Water, East Shores Areas, Weber and Box Elder Counties, Utah; Utah State Engineer; 1961.

Basic Data Report No. 45, Selected Hydrologic Data from Wells in the East Shore Area of the Great Salt Lake, Utah, 1985; Utah Department of Natural Resources; 1986.

Information Bulletin No. 8, Projected 1975 Municipal Water Use Requirements, Davis County, Utah; Utah State Engineer; 1962.

USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5213, Steady-State Numerical Groundwater Flow Model of the Great Basin Carbonate and Alluvial Aquifer System; 2014.

USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5072, Groundwater Model of the Great Basin Carbonate and Alluvial Aquifer System Version 3.0: Incorporating Revisions in Southwestern Utah and East Central Nevada; 2017.

  MODELING

Regional Ground-Water Flow, Carbonate-Rock Province, Nevada, Utah, and Adjacent States; USGS Open-File Reports 93-170 and 93-420; 1993.

Weber Delta Ground-water Flow Model, 1990.

Bountiful Area Ground-water Flow Model, 1992.

  PREVIOUS PAGE UPDATES

April 29, 2002, June 14, 2004, January 4, 2013
Policy area in green,
click on the map for more detail

  DESCRIPTION

Covering all of Davis County, this area includes the surface sources draining from the Wasatch Range, on the eastern boundary, westward to the Great Salt Lake. Major streams include Mill Creek, Holbrook Canyon, Davis Creek, Shepard Creek, Baer Creek, and Kays Creek. This area is bounded on the north by the Weber Delta in Weber County, on the east by the East Canyon Creek drainage, on the south by the Jordan River Valley, and on the west by the Great Salt Lake. The highest point in the area is a 9,706 foot unnamed peak at the head of the South Fork of Kays Creek, while the lowest is the Great Salt Lake at about 4,200 feet, giving a total relief of about 5,500 feet. Much of this area is served by public water suppliers for both potable and secondary water.