Utah is one of the driest states in the U.S. and the strain on water resources is growing as its population booms and climate change fuels aridi...

Published on March 1, 2022 13:19 by Travis Loop, Founder of waterloop, a podcast helping water leaders to discover solutions and drive change.

Utah is one of the driest states in the U.S. and the strain on water resources is growing as its population booms and climate change fuels aridification across the American West. But instead of advancing water conservation as other states are doing, Utah is rejecting that approach and pursuing costly infrastructure projects like pipelines, a situation covered by Mark Olalde, a reporter for ProPublica.

In this episode, Mark discusses his story, the outsized influence of water districts and lobbyists on state policy, and examples of how Utah has shunned conservation measures such as demand management, native landscaping, and water loss tracking.