(1) 

Terms Used In Utah Code 73-1-10

  • Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
  • Land: includes :Utah Code 68-3-12.5
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes a state, district, or territory of the United States. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
  • Uniform Commercial Code: A set of statutes enacted by the various states to provide consistency among the states' commercial laws. It includes negotiable instruments, sales, stock transfers, trust and warehouse receipts, and bills of lading. Source: OCC
(a)  A water right, whether evidenced by a decree, a certificate of appropriation, a diligence claim to the use of surface or underground water, or a water user’s claim filed in general determination proceedings, shall be transferred by deed in substantially the same manner as is real estate.

(b)  The deed must be recorded in the office of the recorder of the county where the point of diversion of the water is located and in the county where the water is used.

(c)  A recorded deed of a water right shall from the time of its recording in the office of the county recorder constitute notice of its contents to all persons.

(d) 

(i)  Beginning July 1, 2011, a deed under Subsection (1)(a) may include a water rights addendum as provided in Section 57-3-109.

(ii)  The state engineer shall consider a water rights addendum that is recorded and forwarded to the state engineer by a county recorder, in accordance with Section 57-3-109, as a submitted report of water right conveyance under Subsection (3).

(2)  The right to the use of water evidenced by shares of stock in a corporation shall be transferred in accordance with the procedures applicable to securities set forth in Title 70A, Chapter 8, Uniform Commercial Code – Investment Securities.

(3) 

(a)  To update water right ownership on the records of the state engineer, a water right owner shall submit a report of water right conveyance to the state engineer.

(b)  The report of water right conveyance shall be on forms provided by the state engineer.

(c)  The report shall be prepared by:

(i)  or prepared under the direction of and certified by, any of the following persons licensed in Utah:

(A)  an attorney;

(B)  a professional engineer;

(C)  a title insurance producer; or

(D)  a professional land surveyor; or

(ii)  the water right owner as authorized by rule of the state engineer.

(d)  The filing and processing of a report of water right conveyance with the state engineer is neither an adjudication of water right ownership nor an opinion as to title or validity of the water right.

(e)  The state engineer shall adopt rules that specify:

(i)  the information required in a report of water right conveyance; and

(ii)  the procedures for processing the reports.

Amended by Chapter 363, 2013 General Session