Water pollution along the Wasatch Front has gone up significantly as more people use nearby canyons for camping, backpacking, hiking and other recreational activities.
In fact, levels of coliform bacteria have quadrupled in City Creek during the past three years and doubled in Little Cottonwood and Big Cottonwood canyons.Watershed manager Russ Hone notes that Wasatch Front canyons are visited by 12 million to 14 million people annually - about 31/2 times more people than tour Yellowstone National Park.
"What 10,000 people used to do is what 1 million people are doing now," Hone said.
Rising bacteria levels are especially alarming to city officials because City Creek, Parleys and Big Cottonwood and Little Cottonwood canyons provide 57 percent of the annual water supply for 400,000 customers. The rest of the water comes from wells and the Provo River.
As a result, they are considering a number of tough new watershed restrictions to ensure the problem does not get any worse.
Among them are stepped-up enforcement of watershed-protection rules, a crackdown on dogs in the canyons, tighter control of cabin rentals, a ban on wading in canyon streams and an aggressive education campaign to convince canyon users that even a little bit of pollution can cause a problem.
Perhaps the most controversial idea is a possible ban on backcountry camping in the watershed near Big Cottonwood Canyon's Lake Blanche and other areas.
Canyon water still is clean enough to be treated easily with existing equipment, said Florence Reynolds, water-quality administrator for the city. But if bacteria levels continue to climb at the rate they have the past three years, she said, there soon will be a danger of disease-causing organisms slipping into the drinking-water supply.
The city would be forced to respond with expensive new treatment facilities. "Our intention is to ward off any problems," she said.
The largest jump in pollution has been seen in City Creek, where bacteria levels now exceed those measured in 1951. During that year, the U.S. Public Health Service threatened to ban the use of city water in all interstate trains, buses and airplanes unless immediate steps were taken to clean up water taken from the stream.
The 1951 crisis prompted a 14-year closure of City Creek Canyon to all public access and construction of a basic treatment plant.
The modern plant that now operates in City Creek is able to handle higher pollution levels, so a second closure is unlikely. But to prevent further deterioration of the water, city officials are talking about replacing the canyon's outhouses with restrooms.
They also are considering launching a campaign designed to persuade people to stay out of the stream and clean up after their pets.