Watershed Management Program

Utah’s Watershed Management Program is focused on protecting and restoring the water quality of our streams, lakes and ground water resources by employing the following key elements: Stewardship, Monitoring and Assessment, Coordination and Watershed Planning.

• Contact Information for All Major River Basins in Utah

Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL)

• Approved TMDLs

In Utah, clean water is one of our most valuable and limited resources. When pollutants impair the use of water a study is required to determine how to reduce them and restore water quality. This study is called a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL). A TMDL establishes the maximum amount of a pollutant allowed in the water while maintaining all of its designated beneficial uses. Utah is required by law to identify polluted waters and to develop TMDL’s to help address these problems.

The Clean Water Act requires every state to establish and maintain water quality standards designed to protect, restore, and preserve water quality in the state. These standards consist of narrative criteria that include designated uses, specific chemical and biological criteria necessary for protecting designated uses, and an anti-degradation policy. When a lake, river or stream fails to meet water quality standards, section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act directs the state to place the waterbody on a list of “impaired” waters referred to as the 303(d) list and prepare a plan to restore water quality called a Total Maximum Daily Load study (TMDL).

In-Progress
TMDL Water Quality Studies

• N/A

Contact Jodi Gardberg (jgardberg@utah.gov) for additional information and staff contacts.

Draft TMDLs
Available for Public Comment

• N/A

Watershed Plans

• Heber Valley
  • Appendix A Soils and Geology
  • Appendix B Wasatch County Weed Plan
  • Appendix C Utah Natural Heritage Search Report HVWP Provo River
  • Appendix D Data Inventory and Evaluation Methods 
  • Appendix E Flow Summary 
  • Appendix F Phosphorus Data Inventory
  • Appendix G Summary by Irrigation Season of Total Phosphorus Data Collected in the Heber Valley Watershed Between 2001-2021
  • Appendix H  E Coli Data Inventory DWQ-2023-007295 – Appendix I Summary By Recreation of E coli Data Collected in Heber Valley Watershed  between 2001-2021
  • Appendix J. Plet User’s Guide
  • Appendix K. Natural Resource Conservation Service Best Management Practices
• Duchesne River Watershed Restoration Plan 
• Escalante River Water Quality Management Plan 
• Lower San Juan Coordinated Resource Management Plan 
• Salt Lake Countywide Water Quality Stewardship Plan
• San Pitch River Water Quality Management Plan 
• Strawberry River Watershed Restoration Plan
• Paria River Watershed Water Quality Management Plan 
• Upper Sevier River Watershed Management Plan 
• Utah Lake Water Quality Plan
• Virgin River Watershed Management Plan 
• Wallsburg Coordinated Resource Management Plan 
• East Bench – Sevier River NWQI/MRBI Watershed Assessment 
• Huff Creek Coordinated Resource Management Plan (CRMP)
• Logan River Projects, Logan, Utah 
• Lower Bear River Watershed Plan 
• Lower Spanish Fork River Watershed
• Lower Weber River Watershed Plan
• Watershed Management Plan for the Moab Area 
• Otter Creek/East Fork Sevier Watershed Plan
• Paria River Watershed Management Plan 
• Pelican Lake Watershed Restoration Plan 
• San Pitch River Watershed Water Quality Management Plan 
• South Fork of Chalk Creek Coordinated Resource Management Plan
• West Ditch – Sevier River NWQI/MRBI Watershed Assessment

Other Water Quality Studies

• Ashley Creek 
• Big East Lake—Limnological Assessment of Water Quality 
• Bridger, China, Lyman and Marsh Lakes Assessment
• Jordan River
• Lower Gooseberry Reservoir—Limnological Assessment of Water Quality 
• Manning Meadows Reservoir—Limnological Assessment of Water Quality
• Mill Hollow Reservoir—Limnological Assessment of Water Quality 
• Navajo Lake—Limnological Assessment of Water Quality 
• Nine Mile Reservoir 
• Utah’s Priority Lakes and Reservoirs 1999
• Piute Reservoir Limnological Assessment of Water Quality
• Recapture Reservoir—Limnological Assessment of Water Quality 
• San Juan Watershed Monitoring Program
• Tony Grove Reservoir—Limnological Assessment of Water Quality 
• Utah Lake
  • Draft Lake Loading Pollutant Assessment and Designated Beneficial Use Impairment Assessment 08/01/07 
  • Task 1 Data Assessment and Evaluation Report 
• Yankee Meadow Reservoir—Limnological Assessment of Water Quality 

Additional Information

• How’s My Waterway
• EPA’s National TMDL Website
• Prioritization of Utah’s 303(d) List for TMDL Development and Alternative Approaches 
• Utah’s Water Quality Standards
• Water Quality Board TMDL Policy 

Contact Information

Bear River

• Mike Allred (mdallred@utah.gov) :(801) 536-4331
• How’s My Waterway

Beaver River

• Amy Dickey (adickey@utah.gov): (801) 536-4334

Great Salt Lake

• Jim Harris (jamesharris@utah.gov): (801) 536-4360
• Visit the Great Salt Lake page

Jordan River

• (Jordan River/Provo River) Sandy Wingert (swingert@utah.gov): (801) 536-4338
• (Utah Lake) Scott Daly (sdaly@utah.gov): (801) 536-4333

Lower Colorado River

• Amy Dickey (adickey@utah.gov): (801) 536-4334

Sevier River

• (Lower Sevier) Mike Allred (mdallred@utah.gov): (435) 512-0278
• (Upper Sevier) Amy Dickey (adickey@utah.gov): (801) 536-4334

Southeast Colorado River

• Lucy Parham (lparham@utah.gov): (801) 536-4332

Uinta Basin

• For questions or concerns, please contact Christine Osborne (cosborne@utah.gov) at (801) 536-4365

Weber River

• For questions or concerns, please contact Christine Osborne (cosborne@utah.gov) at (801) 536-4365

Western Colorado River

• Amy Dickey: (adickey@utah.gov) (801) 536-4334