How to find Utah drinking-water reports, water rights and well records

Looking for a water-quality report, a water-right file or the history of a well? Start by choosing the record that matches your question. Utah's official systems cover several different things, and a hit in one of them does not answer questions that belong to another.

For a community water system's annual drinking-water information, start with the system and its Consumer Confidence Report. For a diversion or use record, start with the Division of Water Rights and the number on the document you already have. For how a well was built, or how groundwater has changed, use the well-log and monitoring tools. The sections below explain what each record can and cannot tell you.

Your water system and its annual report

A public water system's name is the starting point. The state's WaterLink portal, run by the Division of Drinking Water, has a page where you pick a county and water system, plus a year, to run a report. ^[1] The portal needs JavaScript, so a blank page in a text-only browser says nothing about whether a system has records. ^[1]

For an annual overview, look for the system's Consumer Confidence Report, often shortened to CCR. The state's Division of Drinking Water says every community water system must send customers a water quality report each year. ^[2] The report covers the water's sources, the contaminants detected in finished water, and the findings of source-water assessments, among other items. ^[2] It describes the previous calendar year, and the state's example is that a 2002 report was due to customers by July 1, 2003. ^[2] That makes it a retrospective account, not a live reading from your faucet.

The division says residents can view their provider's report through EPA's website, and systems may also mail, hand-deliver or electronically deliver it. ^[2] If you can't find one, ask your provider. Keep the original document with its definitions and notes rather than copying a single number out of context, and check that the system name and year match the question you are researching.

Water-right files are not utility accounts

A water right in Utah is a right to divert water from its natural source and put it to beneficial use. ^[3] A typical right is defined by its nature and extent of use, a priority date, a quantity allowed by flow rate or volume, a point of diversion and source, and a place of use. ^[3] Finding one does not start utility service or settle a billing question.

If a document gives you a water-right or application number, use the Division of Water Rights' number search. ^[4] Keep the letters and punctuation exactly as written. The search page distinguishes water-right numbers, change and exchange numbers, and the A, D, F, T and U numbers used for applications and claims, and it warns that certificate numbers are easily confused with application numbers. ^[4] Without a number, the division's records page lists other routes, including name or source, point of diversion, place of use and a map. ^[5]

Treat the database entry as an index. The division keeps a documentary file for each right, with scanned applications and correspondence, and says that when the database and the file disagree, the file generally controls. ^[5] Open the documents before you repeat a status or describe what a right allows. Ownership needs particular care: the division says the public office of record for water-right ownership is the county recorder in the county where the water is diverted. ^[3] A search result is a place to start, not proof that a person owns a right or that a parcel comes with one.

Well logs and groundwater measurements answer different questions

How a well was built and how groundwater levels change over time live in different records. By law, drillers must submit a well log to the State Engineer for work on a regulated well, and the Division of Water Rights says the reports record the rock layers penetrated, where water-bearing layers sit, water levels, pump data and the materials used. ^[6] The division also says a valid water right must be in place before a shallow well is built and its water put to use. ^[6] A well log documents construction; it is not a clearance to drink the water or to pump it.

To find a construction record, use the division's Well Log Search. It can search by section, township and range or by a radius around a point, and lets you narrow results by date, depth and other criteria. ^[7] Begin with the best location information you have and narrow carefully. A nearby result is a lead to inspect, not proof it describes the well you mean.

For measurements over time, the Utah Geological Survey's Groundwater Monitoring Data Portal lets you select a mapped well or spring, or search by location name or ID, and download the data as CSV files. ^[8] It draws on a dataset the survey describes as holding more than 12 million records. ^[8] The survey's separate Groundwater Data Hub offers interactive maps and downloadable groundwater datasets, including well trends and research. ^[9] Note a site's identity and the dates shown before you compare observations. A plotted water level does not tell you that water is drinkable, that a property has usable groundwater, or that anyone may withdraw it.

Choose the record

Match your question to the record below before you start searching.

Before you compare two records

Write down the exact system, right, well or monitoring-site identifier, the kind of record and the question it answers, the reporting period or observation date (not the day you downloaded it), and the units and definitions in the original. Note whether you read the underlying document or only a search summary. If the identifiers don't match, stop comparing.

Keep billing questions with your utility. This guide points to public records; it does not decide who owns a water right, whether a particular tap is safe, or whether anyone may drill a well. For the companion guide on permit files, hazard maps and water-quality assessments, see our guide to Utah environmental records and hazard maps.