External threats

Historic water rights settlement averts threats at Zion

he East and North Forks of the Virgin River, the Weeping Rock, and other beloved water resources in Zion National Park are forever protected following five years of negotiation that culminated in a historic settlement in December 1996. Secretary Babbitt, Governor Leavitt, Zion Superintendent Falvey, and representatives from Washington and Kane Counties, Utah, signed an agreement for Zion recognizing the first federal reserved water right for a national park in Utah. Negotiators reached the settlement by avoiding common state and federal government rivalries and using scientific data to solve complex water rights issues. The agreement secures water rights to protect instream flows and groundwater in the park and provides a dependable water supply for local communities.

The NPS Water Resources Division initiated studies in 1987 to support water rights claims in the Virgin River Adjudication and to address the threat of proposed upstream dams. The studies estimated the amount of water necessary to support park purposes and maintain water resources in an unimpaired condition. Investigations included water and sediment discharge, age and origin of groundwater, channel-forming processes, riparian vegetation, native fisheries, aquatic organisms, hanging gardens, aesthetics, and recreational use. In 1992, the Park Service and attorneys from both the Interior and Justice departments reopened negotiations to quantify water rights for the park. The following year, a technical workshop helped to educate state and Washington County Water Conservancy District staff about NPS entitlement to and need for water rights at the park.

Equipped with a new understanding about the dependence of water-related resources on stream flows and groundwater in the park, the parties formed a technical team to develop and evaluate settlement proposals. All of the proposals offered park protection and state flexibility to develop a limited future amount of water. The team asked noted scientists to evaluate impacts of current and future water development on flow regimes and water-related resource attributes in the park.

The final agreement recognizes a federal reserved water right to all the unappropriated flows in and above the park and allows valid existing uses to continue. It subordinates to a small amount of water development above the park and limits total depletion. It prohibits the construction of proposed dams on the East and North Fork of the Virgin River and a transbasin diversion to Cedar City. It also specifies diversion limits and periods, bypass flows, and groundwater protection zones. We doubt whether the National Park Service could have secured this impressive set of protections through litigation.

The historic agreement will need to be confirmed by the adjudication court before water rights are decreed. Should objections arise, Utah and Washington and Kane Counties have agreed to stand "shoulder-to-shoulder" with the Park Service in support of the settlement.

At the signing ceremony, the secretary and the governor encouraged the continued use of "good science" and cooperative efforts to solve complex water rights issues in Utah. This agreement establishes a process that can be used to complete settlements of this nature at other Utah parks.

Other articles in the "Threats" chapter:

Threats and information

Demographics and resource preservation

Lake trout threaten native Yellowstone cutthroat

The perennial push of exotic plants

Communication breakdown over drilling near Lechuguilla Cave

Return to Front Page

This material is from Natural Resource Year in Review--1996, published by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, in May 1997 (publication D-1182)

/YearInReview/yir/yr_rvw96/chapter1/zion.htm
Last Update: 8/20/2002