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Utah Water Quality

Utah Water Quality. Politics & Pollution May 20, 2010 Mike Allred DEQ Division of Water Quality. Outline for this Session. Emerging Issues – Endocrine Disruptors, Mercury, etc. Tools for WQ Maintenance & Improvement (Programs). Monitoring & Assessment 305(b) and 303(d).

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Utah Water Quality

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  1. UtahWater Quality Politics & Pollution May 20, 2010 Mike Allred DEQ Division of Water Quality

  2. Outline for this Session Emerging Issues – Endocrine Disruptors, Mercury, etc. Tools for WQ Maintenance & Improvement (Programs) Monitoring & Assessment 305(b) and 303(d) Regulatory Background – Federal & State Statutes Beneficial Uses, W.Q. Standards,

  3. Utah’s Early Years • 1948 Water Pollution Control Act • No goals, objectives, limits or guidelines • States have the primary responsibility to control water pollution • 1950 First municipal wastewater treatment plant constructed • 1953Utah Water Pollution Control Act - Water Quality Standards and treatment requirements Regulatory Background

  4. Early Years Cont’d • 1964 Elimination of last community sewer discharge without treatment • 1965Federal Water Quality Act passed providing grants for municipal wastewater construction • 1965 Major sewered Utah communities achieve secondary treatment Regulatory Background

  5. Clean Water Act (1972) • Restore and Maintain the Chemical, Physical, and Biological Integrity of the Nation’s Waters • Focus was on Point Source Discharges • Fishable Swimmable Waters by 1983 • Administered by EPA Regulatory Background

  6. Clean Water Act cont’d. • Amended in 1987 to add Nonpoint Source Component • Nonpoint Source - runoff from agriculture, forestry, mining, urban stormwater etc. • Delegated to the States for implementation at the state level • Utah Environmental Quality Code • Chapter 5 Water Quality Act (UAC 19-5) Regulatory Background

  7. Utah Water Quality Act (1953) • Established the Utah Water Quality Board • Surface water and ground water pollution control • Classify waters according to beneficial uses • Establish WQ standards to protect waters • Enforcement and penalty authority • Establish plans to improve water quality • Approve the construction of pollution control projects Regulatory Background

  8. Beneficial Use Designations(Classifications) • Class 1C - Drinking Water • Class 2A, 2B - Recreation ( e.g. swimming, boating etc.) • Class 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D - Wildlife Uses • Class 4 - Agricultural Uses • Example: Weber River - 1C, 2B, 3A & 4 Regulatory Background

  9. Water Quality Standards • Water Quality Standard - the maximum amount of pollutant a waterbody can carry and still maintain its beneficial uses. Regulatory Background

  10. Narrative Standards(R317-2-7) • Unlawful to discharge or place waste that: • Offensive, unnatural deposits • Floating debris, oil, scum • Other nuisances – color, odor, taste, etc. • Undesirable physiological responses in fish or aquatic life, or human health effects Regulatory Background

  11. Numeric Criteria for Class 1C • List of 24 Numeric Criteria; • Examples include: • Arsenic .01 mg/l • Cadmium .01 mg/l • Lead .015 mg/l • Nitrate 10 mg/l (as N) • Radium 226 & 228 5 pCi/l • 2, 4-D 70 ug/l • E. Coli 206 (#/100ml) Regulatory Background

  12. WQ Monitoring & Assessment • 305(b) Report • Submitted to EPA / Congress every other year • Assessment of water quality in Utah’s streams and lakes • 303(d) Impaired Waters • Waters that are not meeting WQ standards for their beneficial use classifications Monitoring & Assessment

  13. The Challenge… • Protect the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of ALL Utah’s waters. • Monitoring to support all programs aimed at meeting these goals. chemical physical biological Ecological Integrity Monitoring & Assessment

  14. Water chemistry: the traditional backbone of UT-DWQ WQ programs Data Collected at Each Site: Stream Discharge Field parameters: temp., conductance, DO, pH Chemistry: Nutrients- total and dissolved Metals- major salts always, heavy metals quarterly Chemistry- TDS, TSS Others- Dependent on permit requirements of specific WQ concerns Monitoring & Assessment

  15. Moniitoring logistics? 8 full-time staff who collect data year round Water chemistry samples, typical year: ~299 sites (10 to 12 visits per year) ~3,400 site visits ~9,775 samples = 6800 liters of water We also get about 33% more data in cooperation with other state and federal agencies. Monitoring & Assessment

  16. Clean (we hope) Lake Monitoring Priority lakes were identified based on importance and susceptibility to human-caused disturbance. ~60 lakes/reservoirs are sampled each year, with a rotation every other year. ≥1 site per lake, plus all inflows. Samples are collected during peak growing season (July & August); unless identified as impaired and sampled 4X per year. Monitoring & Assessment

  17. Clean Lake Monitoring Samples are collected at numerous depths and data are used to determine trophic status or violations of standards. • Standard Lake parameters • -Lake DO/temperature profiles • Algae composition • Secchi Disc • Water Chemistry: nutrients, TDS, TSS, and metals Monitoring & Assessment

  18. Measures of biological condition are useful because they: • directly measure beneficial uses, • can simultaneously measure the effects of multiple pollutants, • provide a continuous record of degradation, • are cost effective, • are of direct interest to the public,and • measure the effects of both point- and nonpoint-source pollutants. Monitoring & Assessment

  19. UCASE (Utah’s Comprehensive Assessment of Stream Ecosystems): Biological, Chemical, and Physical Habitat Monitoring - Biological data include diatoms, macroinvertebrates, and fish. - Physical habitat data collected following EPA’s EMAP protocols. - Current budget is for about 75 sites/year. Monitoring & Assessment

  20. Stream Water Quality Status 2008 Total assessed = 10,442 miles Monitoring & Assessment

  21. Water Quality Status 2008 132 Lakes and Reservoirs Monitoring & Assessment

  22. Historical Stream Water Quality Assessment Monitoring & Assessment

  23. CWA ProgramsTools to Achieve & Maintain Water Quality • Construction Assistance • Surface and Groundwater Discharge Permits • Non-point Source Program • TMDL Water Quality Tools

  24. Construction Assistance • SRF – State Revolving Fund • Low interest loans to public treatment facilities • Community Loans & Grants for wastewater systems • Non-point source loans & grants for water quality improvement projects Water Quality Tools

  25. UPDES – Utah Pollution Discharge & Elimination System • Surface Water Discharge Program • Discharge Permits • Bio-solids • Storm Water • CAFO/AFO • SSO’s • Pre-Treatment & Local Limits Water Quality Tools

  26. Water Quality Tools

  27. UPDES Permits Water Quality Tools

  28. Storm Water Water Quality Tools

  29. Water Quality Tools

  30. Concentrated Animal Feeding OperatonsCAFO

  31. Ritewood Egg Pond Failure

  32. Total Maximum Daily Load • The sum of the nonpoint sources, (including natural background concentrations), point sources, and a margin of safety, so as to attain or maintain the water quality standards of a water body. Water Quality Tools

  33. Impaired Waters • Stream, River, Lake or Reservoir that is not meeting water quality standards. • 303(d) List - All waterbodies that are impaired • Utah’s 303(d) list on DWQ Website: • www.waterquality.utah.gov • Impaired waterbodies require a TMDL Water Quality Tools

  34. 2006 TMDL Water Quality Studies Water Quality Tools

  35. Non-Point Source Program BEFORE Water Quality Tools

  36. Non-Point Source Program AFTER Water Quality Tools

  37. Emerging Issues • Persistent Toxics • Mercury • PCBs • Pharmaceutical & Personal Care Products • Endocrine Disruptors • In Stream Flows • Nutrients Emerging Issues

  38. Government , industry need to do more to resolve mercury issue Activists say Utah should test its waters for mercury Toxic mercury lurking in Great Salt Lake Mercury too high in Utah test fish Salt Lake Tribune It's raining mercury Mercury a worry for duck hunters A poison wind: Toxic mercury blows into Utah from Nevada Emerging Issues

  39. Utah Fish Tissue Data • Total samples (with results) to date – 1,411 • Total locations sampled (with results) - 225 • 170 Rivers/streams • 55 Lakes/reservoirs • 152 Samples above 0.3 mg/kg (11%) • (DEQ & Wildlife Resources collected approx. 260 fish in 2007; analysis is ongoing at State Lab) Emerging Issues

  40. Utah Mercury Advisories Weber River Waterfowl - GSL Jordanelle Res. Green River Joe’s Valley Res. Mill Creek Calf Creek Newcastle Res. Upper Enterprise Res. Gunlock Res. Emerging Issues

  41. Emerging Issues

  42. Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals(EDCs) • Industrial chemicals (PCB, Dioxin, Pesticides (DDT, organo-chorines, others • Plastics (phthalates, Bisphenol A • Consumer products (lacquers lining cans, building products, car products, clothing, children’s products, some medical products, cosmetics, personal care products • EPA estimates there are 80,000 chemicals that need examination to determine if EDC Emerging Issues

  43. Estrogenicity of Treated Sewage • Over the past 10 years feminization of male fish have been detected in Europe, US, Japan. (1) • Estrogenicity of sewage effluent has been demonstrated in US, Europe, China, and Korea. (1) • “The occurrence of feminized fish is associated with effluent discharges … the incidence and severity is positively correlated with the proportion of treated sewage effluent in receiving waters.” (6) Emerging Issues

  44. East Canyon Creek August 2003

  45. Utah Population Projections

  46. East Canyon Creek Summer 2001

  47. Walking Utah’s Environmental Tightrope Politicians Environmental Advocates

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