While looking through the Cache Water District’s website, Scott Mershon noticed something odd.
“They don't have any statement regarding, you know, 'This is our role in protecting the Great Salt Lake,'" he said. "And that is something that I would like to see changed.”
Mershon is challenging incumbent Kirt Lindley for an at-large seat on the Cache Water District board. Lindley
did not respond to UPR’s requests for an interview.
With a background in water resources engineering, Mershon has worked on watershed and irrigation projects across Cache Valley. That includes canal seepage studies and research on flows in the Logan River.
He said the district was originally created with a much more local focus — protecting Cache Valley’s water interests. But as the Great Salt Lake has declined, Mershon said the district’s role should evolve.
“The Great Salt Lake is of regional importance," he said, "It's not just important to those communities along the Wasatch Front, but to ones that are farther removed, like us in Cache Valley.”
One way Mershon wants to do that is by helping more Cache Valley water users participate in state programs that allow conserved water to be leased to the Great Salt Lake.
He said those programs can be difficult for people with smaller water shares to participate in individually, but the district could potentially help bring those smaller users together.
“The state doesn't really — they're not really interested in these small water rights or water shares," Mershon said. "But you know, together it makes more of a difference.”
The Great Salt Lake isn't the only issue Mershon said he'd approach differently.
The Logan River Watershed Project has become one of the most visible water debates in Cache Valley. Mershon said there are parts of the plan he supports and others he wants changed.
While he said the project would modernize aging infrastructure and address longstanding seepage problems, Mershon also thinks parts of the plan need more scrutiny.
Among his concerns are unanswered questions about costs and whether some residents would be required to connect to the new system. He also said the project should take steps to preserve the Little Logan River.
“The state engineer has been out and has said this is a river," Mershon said. "Therefore, it deserves protections because of that — and it is quite the asset to the community.”
Mershon said debates like the one over the Little Logan River point to another change he’d like to see at the district: more transparency.
“Meeting minutes are not posted on their website generally, " he said, "and if they are, they're pretty late. Meeting agendas prior to the meeting are also hard to come by.”
Which can make it harder for residents to follow decisions being made by the board.
Altogether, Mershon said those concerns reflect a different set of priorities than the district has had in the past. And that's what he said distinguishes him from incumbent Lindley — a Wellsville farmer with years of experience in agriculture and irrigation.
Mershon said he respects that experience, but added that his own engineering and recreation background gives him a different perspective and set of priorities.
"[Priorities] that I think a lot of people in the valley would share as the valley moves away from being solely agricultural-based,” Mershon said.
