By Ben Holcomb Harmful algal blooms have been in the news a lot lately, from the massive scums lining the Florida coast to the blue-green mats that covered Utah Lake and forced its closure. Predicting when these blooms will occur is one of the greatest challenges we face at the Division of Water Quality (DWQ). …
Read MoreBy Donna Kemp Spangler It was like a scene from Ghostbusters: a mysterious green ooze was bubbling up from a street drain in a Bluffdale neighborhood on July 21, prompting a social media frenzy that it was somehow connected to the harmful algal bloom that had engulfed Utah Lake and spread throughout the Jordan River …
Read MoreInterview with Ben Holcomb If you’ve ever recreated at one of Utah’s lakes or reservoirs, you’ve probably seen areas where greenish scum was floating on the water or collecting on the shore. What you probably didn’t know — at least until this past week with the closure of Utah Lake — was that this bright-green water …
Read MoreBy 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 …
Read MoreBy Frances Bernards Storm water often gets a bad rap. Runoff into storm drains carries chemicals and debris that can pollute rivers and streams. Four years ago, Chris Thompson, public works director at Spanish Fork City, started to see storm water as a resource rather than a waste product. Spanish Fork City’s transition to Low …
Read MoreBy Maura Hahnenberger, 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. Growing up, both my parents were educators. So with summers off, we would go on long road trips across the …
Read MoreBy Suzan Tahir I have the privilege to live in one of the most beautiful states in the USA. Our state is an incredible and endless resource for hiking, skiing, backpacking, rock climbing, sightseeing, and other outdoors and recreational activities. We have extremely beautiful nature in abundance, but one of our most precious natural resources …
Read MoreBy Lynn Berni, 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. The Salt Lake County Watershed Planning and Restoration Program hosted its 9th annual Watershed Symposium on November 18 and 19, …
Read MoreBy Don Hall Utah has about 2,000 animal production facilities known as animal feeding operations (AFOs). These are farms such as dairies and feedlots where animals are confined (not in pastures or on rangeland) and fed. Larger AFOs are known as concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOS). These are operations that meet a confinement threshold number …
Read MoreBy 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 …
Read MoreBy Donna Kemp Spangler People all across the nation were stunned and outraged when on Aug. 5, a breach at the Gold King Mine turned the Animas River near Durango, Colo., a bright mustard-orange color. Even more shocking was the fact that federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) contractors caused the disaster. It took a 3-million-gallon …
Read MoreBy Jenny Potter Working for the Division of Water Quality (DWQ) for the last two-and-a-half years as the office manager, I have been fortunate enough to work on several aspects of what we do here, including attending and preparing for board meetings, attending managers’ meetings and retreats, and helping get documents prepared and ready to …
Read MoreBy 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 …
Read MoreBy Rhonda Thiele and Jeanne Riley If you heard the news reports last week about an oily sheen floating in Mill Creek, you probably also heard that it was traced back to a nearby storm drain. Sampling of the area near 3300 South and 700 East in Salt Lake City showed that the sheen came …
Read MoreBy Kari Lundeen What is the Weber River Watershed going to look like in 5, 10, or 50 years? Will we have enough water to support booming growth while still protecting and restoring water quality and fish habitat? These are the kinds of questions I wrestle with as a watershed scientist for the Weber River …
Read MoreBy Hilary Arens If you’ve ever recreated at one of Utah’s lakes or reservoirs during the late summer or early fall, you’ve probably seen areas where greenish scum was floating on the water or collecting on the shore. What you probably didn’t know was that this bright-green water is a sign of an algal bloom. …
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