Over the past month, snowpack runoff, wet weather, and warm conditions have led to major flooding in northern Utah. When the Bear River crested in mid-February 2017, Garland City, Tremonton, Bothwell, Thatcher, East Garland Park, Riverside, Fielding, Plymouth, Corinne, Deweyville, Portage, and areas below the Cutler dam were hit with area-wide flooding. Roads and railroad …
Read MoreBy Christine Osborne Marie Owens is the new director of the Division of Drinking Water at the Utah Department of Environmental Quality. She brings great experience and enthusiasm to DEQ, along with a commitment to continue the legacy of collaboration between regulators, water professionals, and the public to ensure safe and reliable drinking water throughout …
Read MoreBy Tammie Bostick-Cooper, Guest Blogger, Utah Clean Cities DEQ invites guest bloggers to share their thoughts on issues that impact our environment. We appreciate their insights and the opportunity to broaden the conversation with others in the community. Each year, the Energy Independence Summit hosts various Clean Cities organizations and their stakeholders for a week …
Read MoreBy Jared Fry Frontrunner. Photo credit: Flickr Creative Commons vxla My name is Jared Fry, and I commute 100 miles via public transportation every weekday. To be honest, the purpose in sharing my story is to help promote the use of public transportation and help improve air quality in Utah. My wife, Amy, and I …
Read MoreBy Ann Brown and Karen Stewart, Guest Bloggers DEQ invites guest bloggers to share their thoughts on issues that impact our environment. We appreciate their insights and the opportunity to broaden the conversation with others in the community. Winter in Utah brings to mind crystal clear blue skies, snow-capped mountains, and a long ski season. …
Read MoreBy Brittany Guerra, Guest Blogger DEQ invites guest bloggers to share their thoughts on issues that impact our environment. We appreciate their insights and the opportunity to broaden the conversation with others in the community. Winter months in Utah bring snow sports, holiday feasting, and seasonal inversions. As you’ve watched the mountain line slowly disappear …
Read MoreBy: Kristin Armstrong Many of us have heard about the dangers of indoor radon in homes, but what about the risks of radon gas in schools? To combat radon’s harmful effects on school-aged children and to raise public awareness of the issue, the Utah Department of Health has provided funding to the Department of Environmental Quality …
Read MoreBy Donna Kemp Spangler It doesn’t take a scientist to know Utah has prolonged periods of bad air during the winter. But it does take a team of local and national scientific researchers to understand more fully why we have bad air. For years, the Utah Department of Environmental Quality’s air-quality scientists have been focused …
Read MoreBy Mat Carlile Last week’s inversion wasn’t the kind of “present” any of us wanted for the holidays. We know that fine particulates caused by the buildup of pollutants under the inversion’s “lid” create poor air quality and poses a health risk, particularly to the young, elderly, and those with respiratory and heart disease. We …
Read MoreBy Christine Osborne Ken Bousfield is retiring at the end of this month after more than 40 years of service with the Utah Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Drinking Water (DDW) and its predecessor agencies. His career and service to the state, including his 10-year tenure as the division director, epitomize DDW’s mission statement: …
Read MoreBy Tammie Bostick Cooper, Guest Blogger DEQ invites guest bloggers to share their thoughts on issues that impact our environment. We appreciate their insights and the opportunity to broaden the conversation with others in the community. What’s the best way to celebrate the eighth annual Governor’s Declaration for Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Awareness Month? With …
Read MoreBy Paul Thompson, Guest Blogger DEQ invites guest bloggers to share their thoughts on issues that impact our environment. We appreciate their insights and the opportunity to broaden the conversation with others in the community Blueheads & Bonnevilles from Western Native Trout Initiative on Vimeo. The Weber River is a world-class stream, and anglers come …
Read MoreNov. 7, 2016 By D’yani Wood Water is a source of life. It only takes one twist of a knob to turn on the sink faucet or the shower, a few button presses to wash your clothes, all with clean water. But it would only take one little dangerous microorganism in that drinking water to …
Read MoreBy Kevin Okleberry It was on a bright Monday morning, July 11, 2016, when I walked into the Multi-Agency State Office Building in west Salt Lake City to begin my new job as the Spills Coordinator for the Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ’s) Division of Water Quality (DWQ). I was a bit nervous, but also …
Read MoreBy Ken Bousfield Recent news reports about the presence of hexavalent chromium (chromium-6) in the drinking water in several northern Utah counties have raised concerns among residents about the safety of the state’s drinking water. Fortunately, the levels found in the Davis, Weber, and Box Elder County drinking-water systems are below the California state standard, …
Read Moreby Whitney Oswald Imagine trying to find “invisible” leaks in an oil and gas storage tank. Then try finding these leaks in hundreds of storage tanks scattered across a large, remote area. You know the culprit, and you know these leaks are a significant source of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from oil and gas …
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Air Quality
Drinking Water
Environmental Response and Remediation
Waste Management and Radiation Control
Water Quality
Executive Director’s Office