As part of the 2010 Utah Priorities Project, Utah Foundation, KSL Television and Radio, Deseret News, and the Hinckley Institute sponsored a ground-breaking survey of Utah voters and delegates to the major party conventions. The survey shows distinct differences between party delegates and voters, with delegates usually taking more zealous positions than their party’s voters. The strongest distinctions are, as expected, between the two major parties. The survey also provides insight on Republican delegates’ opinions in the U.S. Senate race. … Read more »

Dealing with Utah’s Growth ranked tenth on Utah Foundation’s 2008 Utah Priorities Project Survey. Four growth-related issues in the survey showed high levels of concern. The top issues were traffic congestion, crowding in public schools, water supply concerns, and changes in crime rates. This research brief provides information on how Utah’s population growth has and will affect these four and other issues. … Read more »

Utah is the second-driest state in the nation and home to over 2.6 million people. When Utah experiences drought conditions, water becomes a high-priority issue for Utah voters. Utah’s water supply and quality ranked as the seventh most important concern in the 2008 Utah Priorities Survey. To help voters and candidates understand the issue better, this brief provides information on drought conditions, precipitation, water storage, water usage, and water quality in Utah. … Read more »

Throughout this election year, Utah Foundation will work to provide information, analysis, and public dialogue on the issues that matter most to you as you consider the future of Utah. The project began with a survey conducted by Dan Jones and Associates to understand which issues are of greatest concern to voters. The results of this survey are now available here by clicking the links below.

The survey found that the top 10 issues for Utah this year are: … Read more »

A Deseret Morning News article from August 8, 2004 stated that, based on flow data of the Colorado River, the current drought is considered the worst in 500 years. This statistic is alarming, but while the Colorado River is an important part of Utah’s overall landscape, residents in the most populous parts of the state utilize very little of the river’s water. The flow rates of the Colorado have a greater impact downstream in Nevada and California. … Read more »

Every five years, the U.S. Geological Survey releases data on water usage by state. The data detail the amount of water used for agriculture, municipal and industrial uses (M&I- public or private water utility providers), mining, private industrial wells and thermoelectric generation. The data also provide a look at the sources of water within the state, either surface sources, such as lakes, reservoirs and rivers or ground sources — wells and springs. … Read more »

The rapid population growth that occurred in Utah during the 1990s is still expected to continue for the next thirty years. The challenges presented by the significant growth underlie many of the other top issues facing this state. Education, jobs, water supply, health care, crime, higher education, environment, and transportation are all greatly impacted by population growth. This brief will seek to explain how growth patterns will impact some of the top issues identified by the 2004 Utah Priorities poll. … Read more »

Since Utah Foundation released the first part of this report in February, the outlook on water availability for the summer months has continued to look grim. Snow pack levels within the state continue to be below historical averages; ranging from 31 percent for the feeders of the Virgin River to 87 percent for those feeding into the Weber and Ogden Rivers as well as those feeding into the Provo and Jordan Rivers and Utah Lake. … Read more »

Water is a topic of much concern to policy makers and the general public in Utah. It has been since the earliest days of settlement in the Salt Lake valley and will continue to be as Utah’s population grows and droughts make water resources scarce. There also have been calls for reform regarding how water development is funded in Utah. … Read more »