About two-thirds of the state's water supplies have remained in good to excellent shape over the past two years despite a population and development boom during that same time period, a state survey said.
"We are still fortunate to have pretty good quality water, but there are waters experiencing problems that we need to address, and with the growth in Utah we need to do something to prevent good waters from being polluted," said Don Ostler, director of the state Division of Water Quality.Sixty percent of Utah's rivers and lakes have remained stable or improved since they were last examined in 1992, the division said.
But that improvement is nothing to get excited about, says a Washington, D.C.-based environmental and consumer-advocacy group.
"It's a virtual insignificant improvement in the quality of water," said Michael Jones, spokesman for the Salt Lake office of U.S. Public Interest Research Group. "Less than 60 percent of (Utah's) waterways are fully supporting the beneficial uses of those waterways. It's indicating strongly that we need to do a better job of cleaning up the waterways."
The division inventoried 35 percent of the state's rivers and streams, 94 percent of its lakes and reservoirs. Assessments were based on the water's suitability for drinking, fishing, boating, irrigation, stock watering and supporting wildlife.
Among the 40 percent of water sources where quality does not meet regulatory standards, none poses an immediate threat to drinking water, Ostler said.
Among the problems areas are the Bear River and its tributaries in Cache and Box Elder counties, East Canyon reservoir and creek, and Wasatch Front groundwater. The division has also issued a public health advisory against consuming fish and wildlife on the lower 16 miles of Ashley Creek and Stewart Lake in Uintah County. Testers have found elevated concentrations of selenium, a naturally occurring pollutant common to the area, because of irrigation and waste water runoff into Ashley Creek.
"It would take eating an awful lot of fish to be affected, but rather than guess on the number of people fishing in the area, we decided to issue the advisory," Ostler said.
The state does not have an inventory on groundwater, Utah's main source of drinking water particularly in rural areas. But based on its limited testing of 393 public drinking-water systems that rely on groundwater and testing done by federal agencies, groundwater in the state remains in relatively good condition, Ostler said.
But in areas where it has been heavily developed, such as the Wasatch Front from Payson to Brigham City, signs of degradation have surfaced. "Groundwater has faced challenges from the effects of irrigation, urbanization and mining," Ostler said.
Agriculture is the lead polluter of the state's rivers and lakes. Direct dumping of manure and other wastes in rivers and streams or runoff from waste piles and fertilized land puts excess nutrients in the water. The nutrients enhance plant and algae growth, which consumes too much oxygen and kills of limits fish populations.
An example of such a fish kill occurred this week on the lower Provo River.
Ostler said the state is working with farmers and ranchers to change waste-disposal and irrigation methods and improve water quality. "Right now it's a voluntary program of education and assistance," Ostler said of efforts to improve troubled waters. "But it may change with the Clean Water Act (being debated before Congress) requiring a more rigorous program to control non-point source pollution."
Improvement in the Bear River drainage is critical because it has been targeted as the next culinary water source to be developed for the growing Wasatch Front.
To protect the state's existing clean water sources from contamination by a growing population, the division is attempting to educate the public and city planners on how pouring solvents down household drains or allowing development in water sheds and on choice aquifer regions can pollute water supplies.
Successes have outnumbered failures in the state's efforts to get citizens to clean up water supplies. Over the past 15 years, water quality has improved in 25 percent of rivers and 30 percent of lakes and reservoirs. It has worsened in 20 percent of rivers and lakes during the same time period.
Waterways showing impaired quality to some degree include the Bear River and its tributaries.
Jones said Utah's waters will continue to become polluted unless the state vigorously enforces the Clean Water Act, which, he added, must be amended to provide stiffer penalties.