Category: News

  • Asbestos in Your Home: Precaution, Not Panic

    Asbestos was once considered a “miracle material” for its heat-resistant properties, but we now know that airborne asbestos fibers can cause respiratory damage. Learn what to do if you find asbestos in your home, and remember, removal isn’t necessarily your best option.

  • Learn About & Check Utah Recreational Water Quality

    Before you head out to swim, boat, or fish, always check the current water conditions! We provide crucial, up-to-date information on potential concerns like Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) and waterborne pathogens, along with important health advisories. Recreate responsibly and enjoy Utah’s beautiful waters with peace of mind.

  • Ogden Business Exchange – Voluntary Cleanup Program

    An Ogden Brownfields project tackled environmental uncertainties at the historic Ogden Union Stockyards. In approximately 1905, the 50-acre stockyards were a shipping point to on- and off-load livestock to the railroads. The stockyards eventually closed in 1971, and the property slowly fell into disrepair. Parts of the property were used for various other purposes, including…

  • The Toxic Release Inventory (TRI): What It Means, How It’s Used

    By Christine Osborne The Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) is a public database that chronicles toxic chemical releases, transfers, waste management, and pollution-prevention activities throughout the United States. A recent Forbes article ranked Utah as the third-highest state in the country for toxic releases based on data in the TRI for the reporting year (RY) 2015. These same…

  • Water Quality and Macroinvertebrates: A Story under Every Rock

    By Amy Dickey What’s the first thing most people do when they walk up to a stream? Perhaps they feel it to check the temperature. Maybe they toss a stick and see how far downstream the water carries it, or cast a line to see if the fish are biting. I prefer to grab a…

  • DEQ Forecasters Keep Their Eyes on the Sky during Ozone Season

    By Kimberly Kreykes Like many people, my day starts with the weather forecast. Not just because it is my passion, but because it is my responsibility to stay informed — I am the lead air-quality forecaster for the Utah Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ’s) Division of Air Quality (DAQ). Along with two other DAQ forecasters,…

  • Water, Water, Everywhere: Is Your Drinking Water Safe after a Flood?

    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…

  • Mercury in Fish: When Catch and Release Is Good for You, Too

    By Amy Dickey Editor’s Note: The recent release of metals-laden sediment from Tibble Fork Reservoir has raised concerns among anglers about heavy-metals contamination in fish in the American Fork River. The Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) is currently collecting live fish downstream from the reservoir and will be testing them for the presence of metals…

  • Willard Spur: Resolving Conflict through Collaboration

    By Jeff Ostermiller Sometimes it’s hard for me to keep my inner cynic in check. This is particularly true during presidential elections, when the divisive nature of our political system makes compromise among differing viewpoints seem impossible. In contrast to presidential politics, our collaboration on Willard Spur embraced divergent views to help find solutions to…

  • Radon Test High? Rid your Home of Radon

    By Eleanor Divver Has your house tested high for radon? You’ve probably heard that one in three homes in Utah has elevated levels of radon, and that radon is the leading cause of lung cancer in nonsmokers. And since you care about your family’s health and safety, you’ve tested your home — and your results…

  • Talking Trash at DEQ

    Most of us take our trash to the curb for pickup and don’t really consider where it goes after that. But did you know that the landfill that accepts your trash has to meet and maintain rigorous environmental standards to protect soils, ground water, and air? We asked Matt Sullivan, an environmental scientist with the…

  • Water Quality: Helping Communities Protect Their Water Quality

    By Lisa Nelson, P.E. On September 23, 2015, on a beautiful sunny day in the mountains of Summit County, members of Utah’s Water Quality Board, along with Trever Johnson and Duane Schmidt, current and former mayors of Coalville City, gathered together with the Coalville City Council for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the completion of…

  • Radon: Silent Killer Lurks in One Out of Three Utah Homes

    By Jan Poulsen, Guest Blogger We have all heard many times that smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer. But did you know that the second leading cause of lung cancer is radon gas? Each year, approximately 160,000 Americans die from lung cancer, and about 22,000 of those die from radon-induced lung cancer. My…

  • Drinking Water: Boiling Water Woes

    By Kim Dyches Following the recent news coverage about communities boiling their water, water customers may want to know if this contamination could have easily been prevented. The answer is YES. These contamination events were the result of a cross-connection between someone’s pressurized irrigation system and the culinary water line into their home. Contaminated water…

  • Water Quality: Keeping Pollutants from Going down the (Storm) Drain

    By Harry Campbell You may have noticed a lot of water rushing into storm drains during the heavy rains this past month. This storm water runoff comes from homes, city streets, parking lots, industrial facilities, and construction sites and often contains sediment, fertilizer, pesticides, oil, gasoline, pet waste, or hazardous waste. And because storm water…

  • Ensuring Safe Drinking Water – for Utah

    By Ken Bousfield It’s easy to take your safe drinking water for granted, whether it’s coming out of your kitchen faucet or the tap at your son’s Boy Scout camp. One of our jobs at the Division of Drinking Water is to conduct sanitary surveys—onsite inspections of drinking water systems—to ensure that the water they…

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