What Utahns are willing — and unwilling — to do to save water

Utah’s settlers created the desert bloom like a roseand its current residents are determined to keep the rose hydrated.

A new Deseret News/Hinckley Policy Institute poll conducted by Morning Consult finds that Utahns are generally concerned about water use and the receding shores of the Great Salt Lake.

While statewide reservoir storage is currently available 68% – just above average for this time of year – Utah experiences frequent droughts. Inside 22 of the last 25 yearsThe state was facing some form of drought conditions.

Lawmakers have been trying to address this issue for decades, with several water-focused bills emerging throughout the 2026 legislative session. Data centers now have to report how much they use, farmers can sell their water to the Great Salt Lake, and government agencies are now required to turn off their sprinklers when it’s raining.

The survey provided some insight into how state residents want the government to handle the issue.

When asked what the best way to get Utahns to use less water is, more than half (58%) of state voters favor state solutions that encourage water-saving landscaping, while 22% think the state should impose restrictions on cosmetic water use (like lawn irrigation) with penalties.

The demographic group most likely to prefer incentive-based solutions was public employees (71%), while the unemployed were the group most likely to prefer restrictions along with penalties (28%).

Additionally, 81% of Utahns are somewhat or very concerned about the Great Salt Lake’s water levels, 13% are not very concerned, and only 2% are not concerned at all.

To remove the lake from “serious adverse effects” status, the Great Salt Lake commissioner said: 261 billion gallons water (800,000 acre-feet) would need to be added.

Adults living in the suburbs were more concerned about the lake’s water levels than those in urban and rural communities.

How have Utahns changed their water conservation behavior?

Although nearly 80% of Utahns say they have changed their behavior to save water, the only action the majority report is watering their lawns less often.

The survey showed that as annual income increases, an individual is more likely to reduce lawn watering. Those earning more than $100,000 annually were significantly more likely to say they had stopped watering their lawns than those earning less than $50,000.

Concurrently, Gen Xers and baby boomers were equally likely to cut lawn watering (68%), but this likelihood decreased with age. Maybe Generation Z doesn’t have lawns to water.

Overall, 47% of Utahns reported washing their cars less frequently to save water. This share was highest among Democratic men; of these, 70% reported washing cars less frequently to save water.

Other behaviors surveyed included water used for hygiene purposes.

Democratic men (62%) say they take shorter showers than Democratic women (49%) and all Republicans. However, on the whole, women (46%) were more likely to shorten shower length than men (41%).

Nearly 1 in 5 Utahns say they flush the toilet less frequently to conserve water.

Democratic women were more likely than others to go to the bathroom less often (33%). Republican women (23%) and Republican men (20%) were more likely than Democratic men (19%) to do the same.

In contrast to reducing lawn watering, those earning more than $100,000 a year were least likely to reduce toilet flushing.

The survey was conducted among 800 registered voters between March 6 and 10. Interviews were conducted online and the results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.