The water Summit
A critical management area, and a plan that runs to 2080
The Parowan Valley aquifer, and the plan that regulates it
Safe yield for this basin is estimated at 22,000 acre feet a year. Between 2010 and 2019, well withdrawals averaged 35,000 with depletion around 33,000. On October 15, 2024, the State Engineer adopted a management plan that has to cut about 11,000 acre feet a year, curtailing water rights by priority date in four phases between 2043 and 2080. If you are buying land here, that schedule matters more than the acreage.
By Scott Buehler, Summit local
Updated October 2026
The short answer
The Parowan Valley groundwater management plan is a state rule, adopted October 15, 2024, that gradually shuts off water rights in this valley because the aquifer under Summit, Parowan and Paragonah has been pumped far harder than it refills. For anyone buying land here, the part that matters is how it shuts them off: not evenly, but by priority date, so the newest rights go first and the oldest survive longest. That priority date attaches to the water right, not to the owner, so it comes with the ground you buy, and on irrigated land it tells you more about long term value than the acreage does. A house on city water is barely touched by it. A field, a well, or a parcel carrying irrigation shares turns on the date the plan reaches its priority, which is a matter of public record and worth checking before you make an offer.
Start here
Twenty two thousand in, thirty three thousand out
The Parowan Valley aquifer has been pumped harder than it recharges for a long time, and unlike a good many water arguments this one is not a matter of opinion. Safe yield for this basin is estimated at 22,000 acre feet a year. Between 2010 and 2019, well withdrawals averaged 35,000 acre feet a year and the depletion from them ran at about 33,000.
That is half again more taken out than the basin can replace, sustained across a decade, which is why Parowan Valley is a critical management area. On October 15, 2024, State Engineer Teresa Wilhelmsen adopted a groundwater management plan under Section 73-5-15 of the Utah Code, and average actual depletion now has to fall by about 11,000 acre feet a year to bring the basin back into balance.
Summit, Parowan and Paragonah sit inside the plan area, along with the valley floor that feeds them, though parcels south of the divide may fall under the Cedar Valley plan instead, so ask the Division of Water Rights about the parcel. For a valley whose economy is irrigated farm ground, this is the structural fact about what land here is worth.
The arithmetic
22,000
acre feet a year of safe yield
35,000
average annual well withdrawals, 2010 to 2019
33,000
acre feet a year of depletion from them
11,000
acre feet a year the plan has to remove
The mechanism
Priority date, and four dates between 2043 and 2080
The plan does not ration everybody equally. It curtails water rights by priority: the newest go first and the oldest survive longest, in four phases spread across nearly forty years.
| Phase | Takes effect | Rights curtailed | Depletion remaining |
|---|---|---|---|
| Now | No regulation | None | About 33,000 acre feet |
| 1 | January 1, 2043 | Priority on or after January 1, 1955 | About 30,000 |
| 2 | January 1, 2060 | Priority on or after January 1, 1954 | About 29,000 |
| 3 | January 1, 2070 | Priority on or after January 1, 1953 | About 27,000 |
| 4 | January 1, 2080 | Priority on or after December 5, 1951 | About 22,000 |
After each phase, only rights senior to the listed priority date may keep diverting water. The end point is a basin back at its estimated safe yield of about 22,000 acre feet a year, on the plan's schedule for 2080.
Two things about that table are easy to miss. The first is how far away the first phase is: nothing is curtailed until January 1, 2043, which is a long horizon by any standard and considerably longer than the equivalent plan for the Cedar City Valley next door. The second is how little separates the phases at the top end. Between 1955 and 1951 there are only four years of priority dates and eleven thousand acre feet of depletion, which tells you how much of this valley's water was claimed in a narrow window in the middle of the last century.
The State Engineer can also move a phase's priority date later, based on artificial recharge or on reductions in depletion the valley achieves in the ten years before the target date. And if depletion ever stops exceeding safe yield, the remaining reductions in the table are not implemented at all. So the schedule is a backstop rather than a certainty, and a valley that solves part of the problem another way buys itself time.
The date before the dates
Meters, from 2030, on every regulated diversion
Long before any right is curtailed, something more immediate happens. Beginning in 2030, wells and surface diversions in the Parowan Valley that are regulated by the commissioner must install, operate and maintain approved flow measuring devices, conforming to whatever rules the State Engineer sets about installation, operation and how often data is transmitted or use reported. Those devices have to be accessible to the commissioner and to the State Engineer's staff.
That is the practical near term change for anybody farming here, and it lands thirteen years before the first curtailment. Measurement is what turns an estimate into an enforceable figure, and it is the step that makes everything after it possible. It is also a cost and an obligation that attaches to the diversion rather than to the person, which means it comes with the land.
Depletion from irrigation is figured from an annual crop survey the distribution system commissioner prepares, tabulating irrigated acreage by crop type across the plan area, reported every year. Municipal depletion is the groundwater diverted minus the return flow that seeps back. Any other use is assessed one case at a time.
The obligation runs with the water, not with the owner. A metering requirement, a priority date and a curtailment schedule are all attached to the water right rather than to whoever happens to hold it. Buy ground with a 1962 priority date on it and you have bought a right that the published schedule curtails in the first phase. That is not a hidden risk, it is a public record, and it is the single most important thing to check before making an offer on irrigated ground in this valley.
A different basin
This is not the Cedar Valley plan
The valley immediately south of this one runs under its own separate groundwater management plan, adopted January 11, 2021, with its own safe yield figure, its own phases and its own dates. The two get confused because they are adjacent, both in Iron County, and both run by the same State Engineer. They are different basins under different plans. The Enoch companion covers the Cedar City Valley plan and the ground subsidence that goes with it.
The differences matter to anybody comparing land. Parowan Valley's first curtailment is 2043 and Cedar Valley's is 2035. The priority cutoffs, the safe yield estimates and the required reductions are all different numbers. Cedar Valley also has a documented land subsidence and earth fissure problem, mapped in a 2014 state study, that does not appear in the Parowan Valley record at all.
So a water right in this valley and a water right in the next valley south run on different schedules, and anybody weighing farm ground in both places needs to read both plans rather than assume one carries over. Both are published by the Division of Water Rights.
| Parowan Valley | Cedar City Valley | |
|---|---|---|
| Plan adopted | October 15, 2024 | January 11, 2021 |
| Safe yield | About 22,000 acre feet a year | About 21,000 acre feet a year |
| First curtailment | January 1, 2043 | January 1, 2035 |
| Final phase | January 1, 2080 | January 1, 2080 |
| Towns inside it | Parowan, Paragonah, Summit | Cedar City, Enoch, Kanarraville and the valley |
| Subsidence and fissures | About a foot of subsidence measured from 2014 to 2020; no fissures mapped near Summit | Documented, with a 2014 state study |
Two adjacent valleys, two separate plans, and the same State Engineer. The similarity of the final dates is coincidence rather than design, and every other row differs.
Scott Buehler
Moving Utah About Scott
Keep reading
More of Summit on The Local
Things to do
The top 6, ranked
Six picks, none with a ticket, a parking lot or a set of opening hours.
Read the guideThe founding
Summit Creek
Grazing ground in 1851, farms in 1853, a ward in 1877 and three schoolhouses.
Read the guideThe divide
Between two valleys
One low rise decides the water, the name, the freeway exit and the snow.
Read the guideMoving here
Land, water and the commute
You are buying land and water, with a house attached.
Read the guideThe companion
Summit, from a local
The creek, the aquifer and the divide, in one place.
Read the pageQuick answers
The aquifer, answered
It has been withdrawing more than it can replace for a long time, which is why the State Engineer designated it a critical management area. Safe yield for the basin is estimated at 22,000 acre feet a year, while well withdrawals between 2010 and 2019 averaged 35,000 with depletion of about 33,000. The management plan adopted in October 2024 exists to bring depletion back to safe yield by 2080, and it does so by curtailing water rights.
On October 15, 2024, by State Engineer Teresa Wilhelmsen, under Section 73-5-15 of the Utah Code, after a public comment process. Its objectives are to keep groundwater withdrawals from exceeding safe yield, to safeguard the physical integrity of the aquifer, and to protect water quality in the Parowan Valley groundwater basin.
The first phase takes effect on January 1, 2043 and curtails rights with priority dates on or after January 1, 1955. Phase two follows on January 1, 2060 at January 1, 1954, phase three on January 1, 2070 at January 1, 1953, and phase four on January 1, 2080 at December 5, 1951. After each phase, only rights senior to the listed priority date may keep diverting water.
From 2030, wells and surface diversions in the Parowan Valley regulated by the commissioner must install, operate and maintain approved flow measuring devices, conforming to whatever rules the State Engineer sets on installation, operation and reporting, and accessible to the commissioner and the State Engineer's staff. It is thirteen years earlier than the first curtailment and it is the practical near term change for anybody farming here.
The water right and its priority date attach to the right rather than to whoever holds it, so in practice yes, buying irrigated ground here means buying whatever schedule that right sits on. Ground carrying a 1962 priority date is ground whose right the published schedule curtails in the first phase. That is a public record rather than a hidden risk, and checking it is the most important step before an offer on farm ground in this valley.
Yes, and in one direction. The State Engineer may adjust a phase's regulated priority date to a later date based on average annual artificial recharge or on reductions in depletion achieved within the basin during the ten years before the target date. The schedule is therefore a backstop rather than a certainty, and a valley that solves part of the problem another way buys itself time. Voluntary arrangements outside strict priority are also permitted.
No, and confusing the two is easy because they are adjacent, both in Iron County and both run by the same State Engineer. The Cedar City Valley plan was adopted January 11, 2021, with its own safe yield of about 21,000 acre feet a year and its own phases beginning in 2035. Different basins, different numbers, different dates. Cedar Valley also has documented land subsidence and earth fissures, mapped in a 2014 state study. Parowan Valley has subsidence too: satellite studies show the valley sank about a foot from 2014 to 2020 where pumping is heavy, though no earth fissures are mapped near Summit.
For irrigation, from an annual crop survey prepared by the distribution system commissioner, tabulating irrigated acreage by crop type across the plan area and published every year in the distribution system report. For municipal use it is the groundwater diversion minus return flow from wastewater effluent and from lawn and garden watering. Any other use is assessed individually, with users reporting as the State Engineer directs.
Much less directly, because the plan regulates water rights rather than household taps, and its practical bite is on irrigated agriculture and on anybody with their own well and right. Where it reaches a residential buyer is in land value, in the long term supply position of every community in this valley, and in the specific case of a parcel that carries irrigation shares or a well with a priority date attached to it.
The number that matters is a date, not an acreage
On irrigated ground in this valley the priority date on the water right tells you more about long term value than the acreage does, and it is a matter of public record. That is a quick check, and it belongs in the math before an offer rather than in a conversation after one.
Or call me: (435) 357-4345or send me a message
Keep going
Continue your Summit research
Eight more doors into Summit, chosen for what this page covers.
Questions about Summit?
Call me, send a message, or find out what your Summit home is worth. No pressure, no obligation.