90+% of the population in Utah is urban. The idea that the <10% of voters run the show is absurd.
Owning the water rights and the land are separate issues from political influence. That is a legal matter, not political.
Owning the water rights and the land are separate issues from political influence. That is a legal matter, not political.
https://www.zipdatamaps.com/politics/state-level/districts/m...
It is not like the Federal senate where each state gets fixed representatives, independent of population.
For example, Salt Lake country has 12/29 senate representatives.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_State_Legislative_distric...
There are so few people in actual rural areas that if you go to a meeting where delegates are allocated by population they are few and far between. The vast majority of the population comes from four counties on the Wasatch Front - Salt Lake, Utah, Davis and Weber - and the next four counties (Washington, Cache, Tooele, and Box Elder) are predominantly urban populations as well.
Imagine trying to fill 10 cups to 51% with one cup of water.
The longer states wait to buy back those water rights, the more expensive it is going to be.