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Code · Utah · Title 73 — Water and Irrigation · Chapter 22

73-22-3. Definitions.

399 words·~2 min read·/ut/title-73/chapter-22/73-22-3

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

Effective 5/6/2026
73-22-3. Definitions.
As used in this chapter:
(1)"Correlative rights" mean the rights of a geothermal owner in a geothermal area to produce without waste the geothermal owner's just and equitable share of the geothermal resource underlying the geothermal area.
(2)"Division" means the Division of Water Rights within the Department of Natural Resources.
(3)"Geothermal area" means the general land area that is underlain or reasonably appears to be underlain by a geothermal resource.
(4)"Geothermal fluid" means water and steam at temperatures greater than 100 degrees centigrade naturally present in a geothermal system.
(a)"Geothermal resource" means:
(i)the natural heat of the earth at temperatures greater than 100 degrees centigrade; and
(ii)the energy, in whatever form, including pressure, present in, resulting from, created by, or that may be extracted from that natural heat, directly or through a material medium using any type of application including a conventional hydrothermal, enhanced geothermal, or advanced geothermal system.
(b)"Geothermal resource" does not include a geothermal fluid.
(6)"Geothermal system" means a strata, pool, reservoir, or other geologic formation containing a geothermal resource.
(7)"Material medium" means a geothermal fluid, or water and other substance artificially introduced into a geothermal system to serve as a heat transfer medium.
(8)"Operator" means a person drilling, maintaining, operating, producing, or in control of a well.
(9)"Owner" means a person who has the right to drill into, produce, and make use of a geothermal resource.
(a)"Waste" means an inefficient, excessive, or improper production, use, or dissipation of a geothermal resource.
(b)"Waste" includes:
(i)a transporting or storage method that causes or tends to cause unnecessary surface loss of a geothermal resource; or
(ii)locating, spacing, constructing, equipping, operating, producing, or venting of a well in a manner that results or tends to result in unnecessary surface loss or in reducing the ultimate economic recovery of a geothermal resource.
(11)"Water right" means:
(a)a right to use water, including a geothermal fluid, evidenced by a means identified in Subsection 73-1-10(1)(a) ; or
(b)a right to use water, including a geothermal fluid, under an approved application:
(i)to appropriate; or
(ii)for a change of use.
(12)"Well" means a well drilled, converted, or reactivated for the discovery, testing, production, or subsurface injection of a geothermal resource.
Amended by Chapter 477 , 2026 General Session
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