Category: Communication Office

  • 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 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 came in above the EPA action level…

  • Talking Trash at DEQ

    Interview with Matt Sullivan 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…

  • 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 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. My name is Jan Poulsen, and I am a lung cancer survivor. I want to share my story in the…

  • 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…

  • Air Quality: Utah Clears the Skies over National Parks

    By Colleen Delaney Utah has some of the most spectacular scenery in the West, particularly in our state’s five national parks. But hazy skies can spoil the experience, and the pollution that creates this haze can also harm human health. Thanks to over 20 years of collaborative work with regional stakeholders, Utah has significantly reduced…

  • Radiation Control: Proposal to Dispose Depleted Uranium in Utah Receives Extensive Analysis

    By Helge Gabert Although depleted uranium (DU) once constituted a small percentage of the low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) generated in the United States, increased production in recent years has led to a growing need to find sites that are best suited for its long-term disposal. EnergySolutions, a commercial LLRW company in Utah, is seeking a…

  • Hazardous Waste: DEQ Protects the Public through Inspections, Education

    By Alex Pashley Almost everything we do creates some kind of waste. While many wastes are relatively benign, some are hazardous and need to be regulated to protect public health and the environment. As a hazardous waste inspector for the Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste (DSHW), I evaluate the hazardous…

  • Hazardous Waste: Cleaning Up a Legacy of Chemical Waste

    By Dave Larsen Can you think of a nice name for huge piles of waste from the demilitarization and testing of chemical agent bombs, projectiles, and other munitions? The U.S. Army likes to call this “legacy waste,” and it includes thousands of munitions that were disposed of on the ground or buried at Army facilities…

  • Tier 3 Standards Will Help Clean Utah Air

     By Glade Sowards There’s been a lot of buzz in Utah lately about Tier 3—shorthand for the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Tier 3 Vehicle Emission and Fuel Standards Program. When a geeky name like Tier 3 becomes a household word that’s used not only by us policy wonks but by Governor Herbert, mayors, legislators, radio…

  • Keeping Used Oil From Going Down the Storm Drain

     By Scott Hopkins Editor’s Note: This is the second of a series of posts—during the month of September—focused on simple home improvement tips to help improve your quality of life and the environment. If you like to do your own maintenance on your car, you’re in luck: Utah has one of the best used-oil collection…

  • 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…

  • Pollution in Utah: Not Always the Usual Suspects

    By Brock LeBaron When we talk about ozone pollution in Utah, we usually think of wintertime ozone in the Uinta Basin and summertime ozone along the Wasatch Front. What we don’t always take into account is the global nature of ozone; what we often view as a localized problem actually comes from a combination of…

  • Getting Rid of Household Hazardous Waste

    By Pat Sheehan Household hazardous waste (HHHW) is any waste produced in the home which contains hazardous substances or may pose a threat to the environment, pets and wildlife, or human health (think little children as the most immediate risk). Products containing hazardous substances are often labeled with words such as: toxic, flammable, corrosive, reactive,…

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