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Show CHAPTER VET IMPORTANT POST 1935 THROUGH 1947 EVENTS REFINING THE BASIC STRUCTURES: SERVING UTAH'S WATER USERS BETTER Introduction After the Utah State Legislature established the Utah Water Storage Commission in 1921, it did. little in the way of experimenting with new types of water development institutions. The only major change occurred in 1941 when the Publicity and Industrial Development Board assumed the duties of the commission. 1 By 1947, however, the legislature saw the value of having a separate agency involved with water development and created the Utah Water and Power Board. 2 Rather than depending on new institutions, the state relied on fine tuning existing relationships and laws. Change was mainly focused on institutions that allowed water users to join together to build desired projects. Just as in the early years of statehood when the water district laws were developed to meet the conditions of the time, institutions were modified to take full advantage of federal programs and attitudes toward water resource development Legal Changes After 1930 the only major change in the legal status of water rights occurred in 1935. Prior to this time, groundwater rights had been determined under a mix of common law precedents and local custom, rather than under the prior appropriation doctrine. 3 Responding to a Utah State Supreme Court's decision in the case of Wrathall v Johnson, the legislature included ground water under the law governing the use of water resources throughout the state and directed that it be treated equivalently to all other types of water resources. 4 All laws and principles that guided other water matters would also be applied to groundwater. Groundwater administration and distribution became duties of the Office of the State Engineer. This resulted in an increase in the State of Utah, Laws of the State of Utah, 1941, Passed at the Regular Session of the Twenty- fourth Legislature Convened at the Capital in the City of Salt Lake January 13th, 1941 and Adjourned Sine Die on March 13th, 1941 ( 62 West Second South Salt Lake City, Utah: Arrow Press Inc., 1941), Chapter 40, p 67. State of Utah, Laws of the State of Utah, 1947, Passed at the Regular Session of the Twenty- seventh Legislature Convened at the Capital in the City of Salt Lake January 13th, 1941 and Adjourned Sine Die on March 13th, 1941 ( 62 West Second South Salt Lake City, Utah: Arrow Press Inc., 1947), Chapter 141, Sections 1- 15, pp 444- 449. Before 193S ground water was treated in a manner akin to riparian waters. For an excellent treatment of the development of western water rights in general see Robert G. Dunbar, Forging New Rights in Western Waters ( Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983). 4Utah Supreme Court Case of Wrathall v Johnson, 86 Utah 50, 40 Pac. 2d 755 ( 1935). State of Utah, Laws of the State of Utah ( 1935), Chapter 105, Section 1, 100- 1- 1, 100- 3- 1, 100- 5- 12, pp 104- 105, 200. |