In Salt Lake City v. Anderson 106 Utah 350, 148 P. 2d 346 (1944) “Salt Lake City filed an action to quiet title to the waters in Utah Lake and its tributaries.  Over 2,400 defendants were named. Salt Lake City claimed that the action should proceed as a private action in equity and not as a statutory general adjudication.” Page 537 Utah Water Law Case Briefs by Kendrick J. Hafen.

In 1980, Area 57 water rights owned by Salt Lake City were beginning to be determined and Salt Lake City was filing water users claims.  Subsequent, the general proposed determination abruptly stopped.

Salt Lake City water rights and Area 57 rights have yet to be audited while essentially all other water rights in Utah Lake and Jordan River drainage basin have been audited.

Non-compliance with Court Orders to complete the adjudication of the remaining Salt Lake area undermines the public’s confidence in the judicial system, and in the Office of the State Engineer.  The Court Order is 90% complete while the remaining 10% is left undone. For some unknown reason the work in progress was simply stopped around 1988 leaving Salt Lake City’s water rights un-audited.

Any damage to Utah’s water commerce and water markets may not be undone.

When the un-written laws of fairness are broken, then laws and policies need to be written to restore fairness and protect the public.

Improvements in the level of detail required in the “Water Use Data Report” would alleviate much of the need to adjudicate or re-adjudicate water areas like Area 57.  The Division of Water Rights could simply upgrade the level of detail to include the amount of water sold inside and outside city limits,  and a detailed water inventory showing all water sources owned, leased, etc..  Surely, a public utility with an 83 million dollars operating budget has this information at its finger tips.  Dollars figures, billed gallons, fees, fines, and late fees are well known figures on the best up to date spreadsheets and software, but the underlying water right information is vague.

The good data is available. Data is simply not collected, because of inadequate Water Use Data forms.