Jordan River (Utah) - Pollution

Pollution

The Jordan River has been a repository for waste since the settling of the Salt Lake Valley. For 100 years, raw, untreated sewage was dumped into the river; farming and animal runoff occurred; and mining operations led to 40 smelters being built and contaminating the river with heavy metals, mostly arsenic and lead. In 1962, the river in Midvale recorded a total coliform level of about 3 million per 100 milliliters, even though the state of Utah criteria for the total number of coliform bacteria in water samples should not exceed 5,000 per 100 milliliters. In 1965, a new sewage treatment plant came on-line in Salt Lake City that prevented 32,000,000 US gallons per day (120,000 m3/d) of raw sewage from being dumped into a canal.

The Utah Division of Water Quality and Utah Division of Drinking Water are responsible for the regulation and management of water quality in the State of Utah. Streams that exceed the standard contamination levels are placed on the 303d list in accordance with the Clean Water Act. The Act also requires states to identify impaired water bodies every two years and develop a total maximum daily load (TMDL) for pollutants that may cause impairments in the various water bodies. The Jordan River and Little Cottonwood Creek were included on the 2006 303d list; parameters that exceeded the standard level for at least part of the Jordan River include temperature, dissolved oxygen, total dissolved solids, E. Coli and salinity.