OCR Text |
Show lands at 25,300 acres. The vast majority of drinking water supplies come from 32 approved community drinking water systems. The Jordan River Basin has an extensive system of developed wetlands which are intensively managed to promote desired waterfowl species and discourage the less desired species. Watershed management is used to protect drinking water supplies. 2.7 Regulation/ Institutional Considerations This section discusses the agencies responsible for water regulation in the Jordan River Basin. This includes consideration of water rights, water quality and environmental concerns. The two state agencies primarily responsible for the regulation of water in the Jordan River Basin are the Division of Water Rights and the Department of Environmental Quality. The Division of Water Rights, under the direction of the State Engineer, regulates water allocation and distribution according to state water law. At the present time, the State Engineer has determined the surface water flows and groundwater in the Jordan River Basin are fully appropriated. This means the Division of Water Rights will not approve new applications to appropriate water. Because all surface water and groundwater in the Jordan River Basin are considered to be fully appropriated, the potential for new water rights appropriations is extremely limited. Applications which have been previously approved may be developed and perfected in the future. There is concern the groundwater basin has already been over- appropriated. If on- going studies confirm this, the division will undoubtedly set into effect policies and procedures designed to bring the groundwater rights into balance with the safe groundwater yield. Water quality is regulated at the state level by the Department of Environmental Quality through two agencies, the Division of Water Quality and the Division of Drinking Water. The Drinking Water Board is responsible for assuring a safe water supply for domestic culinary uses. The board regulates any system defined as a public water supply which may be publicly or privately owned. Their standards govern bacteriologic quality, inorganic chemical quality, radiologic quality, organic quality and turbidity. Standards are also set for monitoring frequency and procedures. 2.8 Water Funding Programs This section discusses the funding programs available. Funding can be either grants, loans at various interest rates, or matching funds. These funding resources are available for all kinds of water- related proposals. Over $ 157 million has been provided to the basin by state and federal agencies in the form of loans and grants in the last 50 years. 2.9 Water Planning and Development Section 9 describes present water uses and supplies. Problems are also discussed along with future water needs, alternatives for meeting needs, and environmental, financial and economic considerations. The basin's water resources problems include water quality, meeting future municipal and industrial needs, groundwater mining, groundwater contamination, maintaining the existing infrastructure, and flooding problems. The trend of converting agricultural land to residential areas has freed up irrigation water for other uses. But the irrigation water being made available is Utah Lake and Jordan River water which is of poor quality and very expensive to treat for M & I use. Groundwater problems include concerns for groundwater quality and quantity. Both of these issues are addressed by the State Engineer through the Salt Lake County Groundwater Management Plan. The Wasatch Front Water Demand/ Supply Computer Model ( WFCM) was used to predict the future water needs of Salt Lake County. Based upon the existing use patterns and the population growth projections provided by the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget, WFCM was used to project future water use needs at five- year intervals from years 2000 through 2020. The model predicts that over the next 25 years the demand for public water will increase an average of 1.6 percent per year. The 1995 demand for public water of 255,700 acre- feet per year will increase nearly 60 percent by the year 2020 to an annual demand of 419,300 acre- feet. The projected demands will begin to out- strip the existing supplies by the year 2010. A number of potential water sources can be developed to meet the projected water needs, but development will be expensive. Alternatives for meeting future water needs can be classified in five basic groups: 2- 3 |