2C: The Future of Growing Water Smart

Utah Growing Water Smart brings together teams from local communities in collaborative, retreat-style workshops that link land use decisions with water resource planning to meet the water demands of tomorrow while protecting Utah’s natural systems.

During workshops, a range of public engagement, planning, communication, and policy implementation tools are used to help community teams realize their water efficiency, smart growth, watershed health, and water resiliency goals. Each community begins with a self-assessment to define challenges and priorities and finishes with a customized action plan to guide integration of land and water planning. Follow-up reunions ensure continued momentum, peer learning, and shared celebration of progress. To date, four planning workshops have been completed, shaping strategies in 20 communities and counties. Guidebooks, toolboxes, case studies, and resources developed for the workshops are already helping leaders make water smart choices about growth and water management.

Utah Growing Water Smart is part of a western U.S. program established by the Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy and the Sonoran Institute to strengthen the alignment of water management and land use planning. Utah State University leads this state’s program, benefitting from strong collaboration with and investment by the state’s Division of Water Resources. 

As the program enters its third phase, USU’s Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water, and Air will facilitate five more planning workshops focused on 25 rural and transitioning communities across Utah. Workshop cohorts from towns, cities, and counties will collaborate on innovative solutions that link development with long-term water sustainability. By 2030, Utah Growing Water Smart will have built a network of communities better prepared to thrive in Utah’s arid future—where growth, conservation, and resilience coincide.