Utahns are often knocked as the most wasteful water users in the U.S. Are the numbers misleading?
Utah is often ribbed and, at times, outright rebuked for the amount of water its residents use. But some of the state’s resources managers claim the data used to make comparisons across states is flawed and unfair, making Utahns’ water habits look much worse than they really are. A draft bill dropped last week during legislative interim hearings that supporters say would collect data about per-person water use that’s more comparable to other arid states in the West. … Utah typically estimates water use by totaling up the amount of water diverted, whether from surface water streams or groundwater wells, then dividing it by the population.