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)
Regulatory Background – Federal & State Statutes
Beneficial Uses, W.Q. Standards,
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
•1953
Utah Water Pollution Control Act - Water
Quality Standards and treatment requirements
Regulatory Background
Early Years Cont’d
•1964
Elimination of last community sewer
discharge without treatment
•1965
Federal Water Quality Act passed
providing grants for municipal
wastewater construction
•1965
Major sewered Utah communities
achieve secondary treatment
Regulatory Background
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
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
Utah Water Quality Act (1953)
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




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
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
Water Quality Standards
 Water Quality Standard - the
maximum amount of pollutant a
waterbody can carry and still maintain
its beneficial uses.
Regulatory Background
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
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
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
The Challenge…
• Protect the
chemical, physical,
and biological
integrity of ALL
Utah’s waters.
chemical
physical
biological
• Monitoring to
support all
programs aimed at
meeting these
goals.
Ecological Integrity
Monitoring & Assessment
UTAH
Watershed Management Units
Bear River
Weber River
Uinta Basin
Jordan River / Utah Lake
GSL Desert / Columbia
Sevier River
Cedar / Beaver
Colorado River West
Lower Colorado River
Colorado River Southeast
Bear River
GSL Desert
and
Columbia River
Weber River
25
Jordan River
and
Utah Lake
0
25
N
50
75 Miles
Uinta Basin
Sevier River
Colorado River
West
Cedar / Beaver
Colorado River
Southeast
Lower Colorado River
mg m t_ u n it.a p r
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
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
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
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
Measures of biological condition
are useful because they:
o directly measure beneficial uses,
o can simultaneously measure the
o
effects of multiple pollutants,
provide a continuous record of
degradation,
o are cost effective,
o are of direct interest to the
public,and
o measure the effects of both
point- and nonpoint-source
pollutants.
Monitoring & Assessment
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
Stream Water Quality Status
2008
FS
72%
NS
28%
Total assessed = 10,442 miles
Monitoring & Assessment
Water Quality Status
2008
132 Lakes and Reservoirs
FS
67%
NS
1%
PS
32%
Monitoring & Assessment
Historical Stream Water
Quality Assessment
Percent
80
60
FS
PS
NS
40
20
0
1985
1994
1998
2002
Monitoring & Assessment
2006
CWA Programs
Tools to Achieve & Maintain Water
Quality
 Construction Assistance
 Surface and Groundwater Discharge
Permits
 Non-point Source Program
 TMDL
Water Quality Tools
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
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
Water Quality Tools
UPDES Permits
Drinking Water
13%
Industry
18%
Biosolids
10%
Coal
4%
Const. Dewater
10%
Municipality
22%
Fish Hatcheries
4%
GW Dewater
2%
CAFO
17%
Water Quality Tools
Storm Water
Water Quality Tools
Stormwater Permits (3,500+)
Industrial
12%
Municipalities
2%
Construction
86%
Water Quality Tools
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operatons
CAFO
Ritewood Egg Pond Failure
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
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
2006 TMDL Water Quality Studies
Water Quality Tools
Non-Point Source Program
BEFORE
Water Quality Tools
Non-Point Source Program
AFTER
Water Quality Tools
Emerging Issues
 Persistent Toxics
– Mercury
– PCBs
 Pharmaceutical & Personal Care Products
– Endocrine Disruptors
 In Stream Flows
 Nutrients
Emerging Issues
Government , industry need to do more to resolve mercury issue
Salt Lake Tribune
It's raining mercury
Mercury a worry for duck hunters
Emerging Issues
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
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
Emerging Issues
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
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
East Canyon Creek August 2003
Utah Population Projections
4,000,000
3,500,000
2,500,000
2,000,000
1,500,000
1,000,000
500,000
30
20
20
20
15
20
10
20
05
20
00
20
90
19
80
19
70
19
60
19
50
19
40
0
19
Individuals
3,000,000
East Canyon Creek Summer 2001
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