Open Water Data portal now available
The Utah Division of Water Resources recently launched a web portal to host 2015 water data. The portal allows users to query, map, visualize, and download the data and associated reports.
Legislature will take another dive on contentious water issues
Deseret News – Surplus water contracts, water supply transparency, controlling land use through water rights and a possibility of amending the Utah Constitution are being studied this summer at the direction of the Utah Legislature.
Warm weather brings runoff warning on Utah waterways
Deseret News – The spring runoff is now starting to get underway, and that means more dangerous conditions,.
Wrangling invasive phragmites around Utah lakes is daunting, dirty job
Deseret News – The muddy marshes and tall grasses stretch on nearly as far as the eye can see, with the wind-swept terrain, bugs and birds occupying thousands of acres. Paul Etcheverry shakes his head. “To get out there, it’s wicked. You don’t know what’s out there. It’s like Vietnam.”
Utah rounds out dreary 2017-18 season for snowpack
Deseret News – If Utah’s snowpack was a homework assignment, it would be covered in red marks and rejected.
Lake Powell may get less than half of its usual water from spring runoff
Salt Lake Tribune – One of the most important reservoirs in the southwestern U.S. will likely collect less than half its normal amount of spring runoff this year because of a warm, dry winter across much of the region, forecasters said.
Independent analysis gives mixed review on Utah’s water data accuracy
Deseret News – Guesswork in how much secondary water is being used and system loss from “well to tap” are significant challenges Utah’s water managers need to address to get a better idea of both the state’s consumption and projected need for water.
Lawmakers take aim at significant water law reform
Deseret News – Two legislative proposals seek to upend current water law and policy by demanding greater accountability for public water systems and reigning in their regulatory authority over watersheds.
Audit: Utah better at tracking water use, but more work ahead
Deseret News – “Data accuracy issues seem to be on the decline because of efforts by state water agencies, the Legislature and local water systems to improve data collection,” the audit said. “However, some water systems continue to have difficulty reporting accurate water-use data.”
Is Salt Lake City a water monopoly?
Deseret News – The state Water Development Commission voted Tuesday to do a deep dive on surplus water contracts and municipal control of land use outside city boundaries, signaling state law may need to change.
The Bear River: A tale of 3 states, 1 river
Deseret News – The Bear River Compact, approved in 1958 and up for mandated 20-year review this fall, has enjoyed decades of minimal controversy.
State plunges ahead with water-use study
Deseret News – Two local engineering firms are conducting a study of Utah’s water use data collection system, a data-driven system vulnerable to errors, assumptions, and calculations because of the complexity inherent to harnessing information from 475 community water systems across the state.
Utah Lake expert criticizes new nutrient standard
Deseret News – Emeritus BYU professor and Utah Lake expert LeVere Merritt implored lawmakers to halt wastewater treatment plant upgrades to tackle nutrient pollution, a proposal he says has no scientific basis and will have little effect on the lake’s water quality.
Multimillion-dollar effort underway to help the Logan River
Deseret News – One of northern Utah’s most critical rivers is getting a targeted boost to its health in a multimillion-dollar effort to reduce phosphorus, a naturally occurring nutrient that threatens its water quality.
More water sampling for toxins on tap for Utah Lake
Deseret News – Researchers at Brigham Young University will return to Utah Lake Wednesday to take additional water samples to determine the concentration of toxins produced by blue-green algae.
