In fact, the report released Thursday by Trout Unlimited warns that without serious reforms, the region's explosive growth, coupled with a continuing drought, could end up compromising not only its groundwater supplies, but surface water resources as well.

    The two are inexorably linked, according to the study, titled "Gone to the Well Once Too Often." But Melinda Kassen, director of Trout Unlimited's Ground Water Project, argues that it is a link that has gone unnoticed for far too long.

    "Too many people don't understand that groundwater pumping does have a direct correlation to our rivers and streams," she said. "Groundwater and surface water rise and fall together. Many [users] already bear the burden of overpumping, whether it's fish and wildlife or senior [water] rights holders. They all suffer the consequences."

    "Given the realities that groundwater pumping inflicts serious damage on surface water, the problem is going to get worse if we don't act," Kassen said. "The percentage of the population that depends on groundwater is as high as 96 percent in some Western states. This is a real policy issue."

    Groundwater controversies are playing out all over the West. Utah is no exception.

    The most visible conflict, of course, is playing out on the Utah-Nevada state line, where southern Nevada water officials are seeking to pump groundwater from the Snake Valley as part of a multi-billion dollar project to ship water to Las Vegas. Area ranchers and conservationists have argued that such a move will irreparably damage the area's deep aquifers, spelling ecological disaster in watersheds ranging from the Deep Creek range to the Great Salt Lake.

    "Right now, the Southern Nevada Water Authority assumes no impacts on anybody, which makes no sense at all," said Tim Hawkes, president of Trout Unlimited's Utah chapter. "There's a rush to start pumping before the science is in."

    Robert Glennon, a University of Arizona law professor, argues that situations such as these are complicated by the fact that groundwater laws in the West have only recently begun to catch up to the realities of increased groundwater use.

    "If you think of groundwater as a milkshake, what the law allows is a limitless number of straws in a single glass," said Glennon. "And unfortunately, it's getting worse."

    Utah has pursued groundwater reform in recent years, passing a law in 2006 that formally commits the state to the principle of "safe yield," and mandates that the state engineer work with local communities to develop groundwater management plans.

    Beyond legal reforms, the Trout Unlimited study also calls for the creation of more "water banks," where excess surface water can be stored in aquifers; sustainable management practices that allow for sharing shortages and protecting river flows, and what it calls the "sensible regulation" of exempt wells that have been grandfathered in over time.