---
title: who already sends water to the lake
canonical_url: https://ensurance.app/guide/who-already-sends-water-to-the-lake
markdown_url: https://ensurance.app/guide/who-already-sends-water-to-the-lake.md
subtitle: "a lease, a trust, and a second hold beside both"
category: nature-finance
---

# who already sends water to the lake

*a lease, a trust, and a second hold beside both*

Some small canal-company farmers in Cache Valley, and the cities of Sandy and Salt Lake City, are already sending water to the Great Salt Lake. The farmers are paid for a lease and keep the water right. The cities are paid by a conservation trust. The lake at the end of that water has no outlet to the sea. The Bear, the Weber, and the Jordan end in it, and the brine shrimp and the microbialite mats live at the elevation those rivers leave behind.

In June the ditches in Cache Valley are running, and the lake is a long way south, out of sight. Water has to be shepherded the whole distance. That is why a small lease, built on trust, is how the sending has started there.

Utah Public Radio reported on 18 June 2026 that some small canal-company farmers in the Cache Water District are in a pilot with the Great Salt Lake Commissioner's Office. They keep the water right. They are paid for the lease. The piece is framed around a diversion off the Logan River. Hannah Freeze, then deputy commissioner, said they were talking about maybe 5,000 acre-feet, and that the point of the small start is trust. The state engineer handles the applications. If the right is yours, the shape is already plain. Your name stays on the right. The farm still has a crop year. A portion of the water is allowed to leave the ditch and become the lake.

That June pilot is one clock. April is another.

## april is a different clock

On 1 April 2026, Utah Public Radio reported that HB 410 had just passed. The bill created the Great Salt Lake Preservation Program, so a farmer can be paid to temporarily lease a portion of a water right to benefit the lake. Almost $3 million had been granted for agricultural water payments. Freeze, still deputy, said the program would not be available until 2027. Rates consider commodity prices. Closer to the lake, the office is willing to pay more per acre, because that water is more likely to arrive. Cache County and Summit County are harder to shepherd than a field near the shore.

Hold the two reports next to each other. In April the office said the wider program would not be available until 2027, with almost $3 million granted and a higher willingness to pay on the shorter path. In June, canal companies in the Cache Water District were already in a pilot of maybe 5,000 acre-feet, keeping the right, with trust as the point. June is water already moving. 2027 is when the wider program becomes available. Cache water is harder to shepherd, which is why a start there is about trust, and why a field nearer the shore can be paid more per acre once the program is available.

## sandy and salt lake city already signed

A third arrangement was announced on 6 April 2026. Deseret News, on 17 September 2026, reported that Sandy and Salt Lake City are paid by a conservation trust to redirect 2,500 acre-feet a year to the lake for up to a decade. The water is built on residential conservation. Households use less. The city lets the saved water go. The trust pays.

If you carry that dedication, you already have a number, a term, and a payor. Twenty-five hundred acre-feet a year, for as long as ten years, is inflow the lake can use and a figure a conservation budget already recognizes. It is a city dedication. It runs on its own clock, beside the Cache pilot and beside the program that opens in 2027.

## who the lessors are

The Commissioner's Office and the Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Trust are the two main lessors. The trust received $40 million in 2023. Freeze serves as Great Salt Lake Commissioner; on the April and June lease quotes she was still deputy. Lindsie Smith is executive director of the Great Salt Lake Alliance. John Luft manages the Great Salt Lake Ecosystem Program, which counts the brine shrimp and watches the level this water is meant to support. Jordan Nielson is executive director of Great Salt Lake Rising.

The lease, the trust, the coalition, and the count are already theirs. The second hold is for the farmer with a right to lease, and for Sandy and Salt Lake City, already paid by a conservation trust. The office, the Alliance, the trust, and the Ecosystem Program stay the people doing the coordination.

The acre-foot matters because of the lake. As of Wednesday, 25 September 2026, the south arm stood at 4,189.7 feet and the north arm at 4,189.6, over 8 feet below the state's minimum healthy level and a little more than a foot above the 2022 record low, in Carter Williams's account for KSL and the Great Salt Lake Collaborative. Shrimp live in that salinity. The mats live when the water covers them. Companion pages stay with [the lake](/guide/what-the-great-salt-lake-actually-is?from=guide), [the shrimp](/guide/what-brine-shrimp-need-the-lake-to-be?from=guide), [the mats](/guide/a-microbialite-is-not-a-water-level?from=guide), [the dust](/guide/great-salt-lake-dust-is-the-lakebed?from=guide), and [the three rivers](/guide/the-bear-the-weber-and-the-jordan?from=guide).

## lease water to the great salt lake

**Water leasing**, under HB 410, is a temporary payment for a portion of a water right. Full-season leasing is limited to no more than two of every five years. You keep the right. The state engineer handles the applications. The Commissioner's Office or the Watershed Enhancement Trust is the lessor.

At the June Solutions Exchange, the agricultural sector said a voluntary approach can scale water-leasing programs, crop switching, conservation easements, and irrigation improvements, if farmers and ranchers choose to send water. KSL reported that on 25 September 2026. A farm that stays in production stays in production. A canal company that leases a portion, in no more than two full seasons of every five years, is paid for that portion.

The payment figure belongs to the Commissioner's Office. Rates consider commodity prices. Water closer to the lake can be paid more per acre because it is more likely to arrive. That rate is theirs. The unit in the second hold is the acre-foot reported beside it. The Cache pilot is the small version of the same shape, maybe 5,000 acre-feet, already underway. The wider program is the 2027 door.

:::johnson
**the water only becomes the lake if it arrives.**

Farmers in the Cache pilot and two cities on a conservation trust are already sending it. A second hold is how other people stand in that same acre-foot, beside the lease or beside the trust.

[co-create brine hold →](/specific/create?mode=suggest&agent=great-salt-lake.basin&name=brine%20hold&from=guide)
:::

## the second hold

The Great Salt Lake, its brine shrimp, and its microbialites exist whether or not anyone buys a line. What they need is water that finishes the trip. [Ensurance](/great-salt-lake.basin?from=guide) funds that arrival. It is not the lake.

The parent agent is live: [great-salt-lake.basin](/great-salt-lake.basin?from=guide). Under it, a line called `brine hold` is in ideation, not live. You co-create it, a person reviews it, and the parent agent receives it. [rivers-lakes.ensurance](/rivers-lakes.ensurance?from=guide) is the living-water theme across many rivers. This acre-foot belongs on the lake's agent.

Two buyers already carry the exposure. Each gets a named service, a unit in their own books, and a door that opens on that service.

If you farm or run a canal company, the click opens **watershed and hydrology services** on the [landowners page](/solutions/landowners?from=guide&topic=great-salt-lake): irrigation work, water planning, and the hydrology of an acre-foot that leaves the ditch and still reaches the lake. The work is those acre-feet beside the state lease. The unit is one acre-foot dedicated to the lake, reported beside the lease, on `brine hold`.

If you are Salt Lake City or Sandy, the click opens **source watershed investment** on the [utilities page](/solutions/utilities?from=guide&topic=great-salt-lake) and **municipal watershed protection** on the [governments page](/solutions/governments?from=guide&topic=great-salt-lake). The work is the dedication you already have, held by others next to the trust payment. The unit is per acre-foot in that dedication, as one reportable partnership line, on `brine hold`.

| buyer | exposure | what we deliver | what it funds | unit | door |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A canal company or farmer in the Cache pilot, or eligible for the Preservation Program | A portion of a right. Full-season leasing runs no more than two of every five years. The June pilot was maybe 5,000 acre-feet. You keep the right. | watershed and hydrology services | Acre-feet that reach the lake, beside the state lease | One acre-foot dedicated to the lake, reported beside the lease, on brine hold | [landowners →](/solutions/landowners?from=guide&topic=great-salt-lake) |
| Salt Lake City and Sandy | 2,500 acre-feet a year, for up to a decade, announced 6 April 2026, paid by a conservation trust | source watershed investment; municipal watershed protection | The same dedication, held by others next to the trust payment | Per acre-foot in that dedication, as one reportable partnership line, on brine hold | [utilities →](/solutions/utilities?from=guide&topic=great-salt-lake) and [governments →](/solutions/governments?from=guide&topic=great-salt-lake) |

The state's lease rate stays with the state. Sandy and Salt Lake City keep the conservation-trust payment they already have. The column beside either one is the acre-foot, so another party can hold the same dedication while the right, or that payment, stays where it is.

[Suggest brine hold under great-salt-lake.basin →](/specific/create?mode=suggest&agent=great-salt-lake.basin&name=brine%20hold&from=guide)

[Talk to someone who can help](/contact?from=guide&topic=great-salt-lake) if you want a person in the conversation before the line exists.

## frequently asked questions

### how do i lease water to the great salt lake?

You lease a portion of a water right, temporarily, so the water can benefit the lake. The Commissioner's Office and the Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Trust are the two main lessors. Full-season leasing is limited to no more than two of every five years, and you keep the right. The state engineer handles the applications. A Cache Water District pilot is already paying some canal-company farmers, on the order of maybe 5,000 acre-feet, because trust is the point of the small start. The wider Preservation Program is not available until 2027. Almost $3 million had been granted for the agricultural payments, and water closer to the lake is easier to shepherd.

### what are sandy and salt lake city already sending?

On 6 April 2026 they were announced as paid by a conservation trust to redirect 2,500 acre-feet a year for up to a decade. The source is residential conservation. The dedication has its own payor and its own term, and it stands beside any agricultural lease in the same lake.

### what does the 2027 date change about the cache pilot?

The pilot stays on the June clock. The 1 April 2026 account says the Preservation Program would not be available until 2027. The 18 June 2026 account says Cache Water District canal companies were already leasing, keeping the right, on maybe 5,000 acre-feet, with trust as the point. The wider program becomes available in 2027. The pilot is already sending.

### what is brine hold?

Brine hold is a line in ideation, not live, under great-salt-lake.basin. The unit is an acre-foot dedicated to the lake, reported beside a state lease or beside the cities' trust payment. You co-create it on the suggest door, a person reviews it, and the parent agent receives it.

## the ditch and the shore

You can hear a Cache Valley ditch in June and still not see the lake. That distance is why the pilot stays small and why closer water is easier to shepherd. Sandy and Salt Lake City are already on the trust. The south arm, at 4,189.7 feet on 25 September 2026, holds what arrives, whichever clock sent it.

[great-salt-lake.basin →](/great-salt-lake.basin?from=guide)

## sources

[Utah Public Radio, 1 April 2026](https://www.upr.org/environment/2026-04-01/this-new-program-will-pay-farmers-to-send-water-to-great-salt-lake) — HB 410 just passed, almost $3 million granted for agricultural water payments, the program not available until 2027, commodity-price rates, and closer water easier to shepherd than Cache or Summit

[Utah Public Radio, 18 June 2026](https://www.upr.org/environment/2026-06-18/a-new-diversion-off-the-logan-river-could-turn-water-into-a-commodity) — Cache Water District canal-company pilot, farmers keep the right, maybe 5,000 acre-feet, trust as the point, the state engineer on the applications

[Great Salt Lake FAQ, State of Utah](https://greatsaltlake.utah.gov/faq/) — the Preservation Program, a temporary lease of a portion of a right, full-season leasing limited to two of every five years, the Commissioner's Office and the Watershed Enhancement Trust as lessors, and the trust's $40 million in 2023

[Deseret News, 17 September 2026](https://www.deseret.com/environment/2026/09/17/great-salt-lake-commissioner-to-use-trumps-1-billion/) — Sandy and Salt Lake City paid by a conservation trust to redirect 2,500 acre-feet a year for up to a decade, announced 6 April 2026, from residential conservation

[KSL / Great Salt Lake Collaborative, Carter Williams, 25 September 2026](https://www.ksl.com/article/51627764/many-groups-are-trying-to-save-the-great-salt-lake-heres-how-they-can-better-collaborate) — south arm 4,189.7 feet and north arm 4,189.6 feet, the healthy-level and 2022 comparison, and the June exchange finding that a voluntary approach can scale leasing when farmers and ranchers choose

## the series

1. [what the great salt lake actually is](/guide/what-the-great-salt-lake-actually-is?from=guide)
2. [what brine shrimp need the lake to be](/guide/what-brine-shrimp-need-the-lake-to-be?from=guide)
3. [a microbialite is not a water level](/guide/a-microbialite-is-not-a-water-level?from=guide)
4. [great salt lake dust is the lakebed](/guide/great-salt-lake-dust-is-the-lakebed?from=guide)
5. [the bear, the weber, and the jordan](/guide/the-bear-the-weber-and-the-jordan?from=guide)
6. [who already sends water to the lake](/guide/who-already-sends-water-to-the-lake?from=guide)