2E: Tracking Utah's "virtual water" trade

Understanding how we use water in Utah is more complicated than just streamflow. For example, virtual water is the water used to produce something, such as electricity or a crop, that is then traded—sometimes to other countries, but far more often among neighboring states. In fact, over 90% of the 1,700 gallons of water the average American uses each day is virtual water used to produce the food and energy they use. It need not be directly delivered through pipes from a local river, reservoir, or well. Rather, virtual water comes to us over the electrical grid or by truck or railroad car carrying lumber or one of America’s primary crops—like corn, soybeans, wheat or hay—through numerous business transactions.

We can track the volume and direction of virtual water flows just like we do for rivers. Utah’s virtual water exports (mostly to other western states, but some to China) exceed its imports (mostly from western and midwestern states). The difference between exports and imports is about equal to the combined flow of the Bear, Weber and Jordan Rivers to Great Salt Lake. American states trade huge quantities of virtual water with each other—20 times the volume that flows from Glen Canyon Dam to the Lower Colorado River each year.

It is possible for Utah to access a larger share of this virtual water trade. For example, through the Utah Water Banking Act of 2020, farmers, acting voluntarily and in their own self-interest, could choose to lease out a part of their senior water rights instead of growing livestock feed, and instead buy it from the Midwest at a profit. In this way, farmers could import even more virtual water to meet Utah’s growing needs.