Publications
The majority of publications in this section address water resources in Utah or in bordering states. Some of the publications are included because one or more of the authors work at the Utah Water Science Center but have provided expertise to studies in other geographic areas.
Filter Total Items: 906
Development of a regionally consistent geospatial dataset of agricultural lands in the Upper Colorado River Basin, 2007-10
Irrigation in arid environments can alter the natural rate at which salts are dissolved and transported to streams. Irrigated agricultural lands are the major anthropogenic source of dissolved solids in the Upper Colorado River Basin (UCRB). Understanding the location, spatial distribution, and irrigation status of agricultural lands and the method used to deliver water to agricultural lands are i
Authors
Susan G. Buto, Brittany L. Gold, Kimberly A. Jones
Quantity and quality of groundwater discharge in a hypersaline lake environment
Geophysical and geochemical surveys were conducted to understand groundwater discharge to Great Salt Lake (GSL) and assess the potential significance of groundwater discharge as a source of selenium (Se). Continuous resistivity profiling (CRP) focusing below the sediment/water interface and fiber-optic distributed temperature sensing (FO-DTS) surveys were conducted along the south shore of GSL. FO
Authors
R.B. Anderson, D. L. Naftz, F. D. Day-Lewis, R.D. Henderson, D. O. Rosenberry, Bernard J. Stolp, P. Jewell
Groundwater conditions in Utah, spring of 2014
This is the fifty-first in a series of annual reports that describe groundwater conditions in Utah. Reports in this series, published cooperatively by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water Rights, and the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, Division of Water Quality, provide data to enable interested parties to maintain awareness of changi
Authors
Carole B. Burden
Groundwater conditions in Utah, spring of 2014
This is the fifty-first in a series of annual reports that describe groundwater conditions in Utah. Reports in this series, published cooperatively by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water Rights, and the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, Division of Water Quality, provide data to enable interested parties to maintain awareness of changi
Authors
Carole B. Burden, Adam S. Birken, Steven J. Gerner, John P. Carricaburu, V. Noah Derrick, Paul Downhour, Lincoln Smith, Robert J. Eacret, Travis L. Gibson, Bradley A. Slaugh, Nickolas R. Whittier, James H. Howells, Howard K. Christiansen, Martel J. Fisher
Monitoring change in Great Salt Lake
Despite the ecological and economic importance of Great Salt Lake, only limited water quality monitoring has occurred historically. To change this, new monitoring stations and networks—gauges of lake level height and rate of inflow, moored buoys, and multiple lake-bottom sensors—will provide important information that can be used to make informed decisions regarding future management of the Great
Authors
David L. Naftz, Cory E. Angeroth, Michael L. Freeman, Ryan C. Rowland, Gregory Carling
Evaluation of potential gas clogging associated with managed aquifer recharge from a spreading basin, southwestern Utah, U.S.A.
Sand Hollow Reservoir in southwestern Utah, USA, is operated for both surface-water storage and managed aquifer recharge via infiltration from surface basin spreading to the underlying Navajo Sandstone. The total volume of estimated recharge from 2002 through 2011 was 131 Mm3., resulting in groundwater levels rising as much as 40 m. Hydraulic and hydrochemical data from the reservoir and various m
Authors
Victor M. Heilweil, Thomas Marston
Federal standards and procedures for the National Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD)
The Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) is a comprehensive aggregated collection of hydrologic unit data consistent with the national criteria for delineation and resolution. This document establishes Federal standards and procedures for creating the WBD as seamless and hierarchical hydrologic unit data, based on topographic and hydrologic features at a 1:24,000 scale in the United States, except for
Authors
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Evaluation of the groundwater flow model for southern Utah and Goshen Valleys, Utah, updated to conditions through 2011, with new projections and groundwater management simulations
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Southern Utah Valley Municipal Water Association, updated an existing USGS model of southern Utah and Goshen Valleys for hydrologic and climatic conditions from 1991 to 2011 and used the model for projection and groundwater management simulations. All model files used in the transient model were updated to be compatible with MODFLOW-2005 a
Authors
Lynette E. Brooks
Assessment of managed aquifer recharge at Sand Hollow Reservoir, Washington County, Utah, updated to conditions in 2012
Sand Hollow Reservoir in Washington County, Utah, was completed in March 2002 and is operated primarily for managed aquifer recharge by the Washington County Water Conservancy District. From 2002 through 2011, surface-water diversions of about 199,000 acre-feet to Sand Hollow Reservoir have allowed the reservoir to remain nearly full since 2006. Groundwater levels in monitoring wells near the rese
Authors
Thomas M. Marston, Victor M. Heilweil
Streamflow and water-quality conditions including geologic sources and processes affecting selenium loading in the Toll Gate Creek watershed, Aurora, Arapahoe County, Colorado, 2007
Toll Gate Creek is a perennial stream draining a suburban area in Aurora, Colorado, where selenium concentrations have consistently exceeded the State of Colorado aquatic-life standard for selenium of 4.6 micrograms per liter since the early 2000s. In cooperation with the City of Aurora, Colorado, Utilities Department, a synoptic water-quality study was performed along an 18-kilometer reach of Tol
Authors
Suzanne S. Paschke, Robert L. Runkel, Katherine Walton-Day, Briant A. Kimball, Keelin R. Schaffrath
Estimating instream constituent loads using replicate synoptic sampling, Peru Creek, Colorado
The synoptic mass balance approach is often used to evaluate constituent mass loading in streams affected by mine drainage. Spatial profiles of constituent mass load are used to identify sources of contamination and prioritize sites for remedial action. This paper presents a field scale study in which replicate synoptic sampling campaigns are used to quantify the aggregate uncertainty in constitue
Authors
Robert L. Runkel, Katherine Walton-Day, Briant A. Kimball, Philip L. Verplanck, David A. Nimick
Multi-regional synthesis of temporal trends in biotic assemblages in streams and rivers of the continental United States
Biotic assemblages in aquatic ecosystems are excellent integrators and indicators of changing environmental conditions within a watershed. Therefore, temporal changes in abiotic environmental variables often can be inferred from temporal changes in biotic assemblages. Algae, macroinvertebrate, and fish assemblage data were collected from 91 sampling sites in 4 geographic regions (northeastern/nort
Authors
Matthew P. Miller, Anne M.D. Brasher, Jonathan G. Keenen