Watershed Symposium 2022

Managing resilient watersheds and water resources, especially during a time of rapid change and unprecedented challenge, requires institutions and governance structures that are also resilient, robust, and nimble. Effective and adaptive institutions emerge when we invest in the people that are at their core and ground them in thoughtful governance structures. Utah has excellent examples of how the linkages between people, institutions, and water resources have resulted in innovative and collaborative solutions to some of our biggest challenges. There are other examples of governance structures that may need to be redesigned to effectively manage the complexity, magnitude, and urgency currently facing western water managers. As a community of water professionals, working together to solve some of the most challenging water resources issues in decades, we must also ensure that we have the governance frameworks and institutional capacity to be successful. 

Brenda Bowen and Kerry Case, co-chairs of the University of Utah's Climate Commitment Task Force, will share an overview of the University of Utah's first Climate Resilience Assessment and ongoing work to develop an equity-centered Climate Change Action Plan.

In 2020, the University of Utah launched its first Climate Resilience Assessment as part of the Presidents’ Climate Leadership Commitment, which President Taylor Randall re-committed to in 2021. This Climate Change Resilience assessment examined the institution’s ability to respond to climate threats in our community including risks associated with changes in temperature and seasonality (e.g., heat waves, megadroughts, dust storms, wildfires, changes in phenology) and changes in precipitation (e.g., flooding, megadroughts, reduced snowpacks). This work identified climate related vulnerabilities and strengths, developed indicators of resilience, and compiled baseline data and data gaps for key indicators. This assessment considered indicators of resilience related to social equity and governance, health and wellness, ecosystem services, infrastructure, and economics. Several the key climate change resilience indicators relate to systems that include the University and the broader watershed and ecosystem, such as water system stability and efficiency, ecosystem health and diversity, land and soil functionality, and management of campus-related ecosystems.

Now, with leadership from the Sustainability Office, the University is in the process of developing a new Climate Change Action Plan identifying how the institution will respond to changing climate. Recognizing that climate change is a threat multiplier, worsening existing problems of inequity and injustice in our society and systems, the University has chosen to center equity in this work. This new plan will outline priorities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from operations, prepare for the current and future impacts of climate change, educate all students with skills and knowledge to work toward a sustainable future, and research effects of and solutions to climate change. In this presentation we will share an overview of this work and highlight key partnerships and opportunities for collaboration and engagement within the watershed.

Changing winter rain/snow partitioning and increased April to October evapotranspiration from warmer temperatures poses a challenge to the Salt Lake City water system. We develop a comprehensive understanding of the driving climate, hydrological, and water system dynamics influencing seasonal to decadal planning and management activities.

Changing winter rain/snow partitioning and variable winter water storage coupled with increased April to October evapotranspiration from warmer temperatures in the Western US challenges water resources management from basin to municipal domains. In Salt Lake City, Utah, population growth further compounds these hydroclimate challenges. Addressing the supply-demand challenges with a climate resilience action plan, this work highlights the benefits of a collaborative research-to-operations (R2O) partnership between the Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities (SLCDPU), the University of Utah, and the University of Alabama. We develop a comprehensive understanding of the driving climate, hydrological, and water system dynamics influencing seasonal to decadal planning and management activities. This involved five years of extensive stakeholder engagement that led to key scientific discoveries surrounding winter precipitation anomalies, hydro-geophysical attributes improving surface water yield estimates, and key hydroclimate mechanisms influencing municipal demands.

Leveraging a systems model to replicate the SLCDPU water system and operations, we integrated the discoveries into the water systems setting to identify vulnerabilities and create preemptive (vs. reactionary) mitigation protocols at multiple forecasting horizons. This includes the development of a decision-making timeline with operational tools to prevent system deficits, characterize source vulnerabilities, and estimate conservation measures to mitigate supply deficits. The case study analyses highlight the decision-making influence the R2O workflow provides the utility, spotlighting the capacity to guide water resources decision-making over a range of hydroclimate phenomena to build water system-climate resilience.

The Provo River Delta Restoration Project is one of the largest river and lake restoration projects in the region and is focused on providing juvenile rearing habitat for June Sucker in the face of changing hydrology. Come visit with us to find out how to plan and implement large-scale restoration projects that benefit both wildlife and people.

The Provo River Delta Restoration Project is one of the largest river and lake restoration projects in the region. URMCC has worked with countless partners and agencies to develop the vision for reconnecting a bay of Utah Lake to the main body of the lake through this project. It has involved the development of over 22,000 linear feet of new river channel on the delta where the Provo River historically entered Utah Lake into Skipper Bay. This project took more than a decade to plan and has taken more than two years to implement. The main focus for the project is to provide rearing habitat for the threatened June Sucker, found only in Utah Lake, but the variety of water depths will also help Utah Lake adapt to a changing climate. Additional benefits will include additional recreation access to the Lower Provo River and the newly reconnected Skipper Bay and Provo River Delta. There are many opportunities to get involved with planting and stewardship starting next spring.

The Colorado River Basin is facing a daunting new reality with our region getting drier, yet most of the water policies governing the region are 100 years behind the times. This workshop explores what the aridification future of the Colorado River holds for the Wasatch Front and what we need to do now to prepare for this drier world.

The Colorado River has shrunk 20% in the last two decades in the face of climate change’s shrinking of headwater snowpacks in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming. More than just a drought, scientists have reframed the problem around acidification, the idea that the entire region is drying out and this change will likely continue for decades to come. Home to 40 million people, the Colorado River Basin’s water problems have attracted attention from around the globe and forced an entirely new set of policy paradigms evolving out of this drier world. Many Wasatch Front residents wonder whether the Colorado River Basin’s water problems might affect them. Amidst record-low reservoir levels for Lake Powell and Lake Mead, millions of Wasatch Front residents are concerned about the plight of America’s two largest reservoirs, but they feel disconnected from the Colorado River problems being debated across the seven state region of the Basin. Is the Wasatch Front insulated from the challenges on the Colorado River?

In this workshop we deconstruct how much water the Wasatch Front receives from the Colorado River Basin that are feeding our cities and farms and we explore how susceptible we are to the impacts caused by aridification on the other side of the Wasatch Mountains. We will look back at some of the recent impacts caused by aridification in the Basin, bring participants up to speed on the lightning-fast policy changes being discussed today, and we will explore some of the daunting new problems emerging around the bend which threaten Salt Lake County’s water supply. With the rapid depletion of Lakes Powell and Mead in recent years, the seven Colorado River Basin states, Mexico, and 30 tribes are all rushing to find sustainable solutions to the western water crisis. In June of this year, the Bureau of Reclamation announced that the Basin States must come up with a plan to cut use by 2-4 million acre feet, nearly one third of the river’s annual flow. Meanwhile Glen Canyon Dam is dropping near the level at which it can no longer generate hydropower, and more importantly, the level at which it becomes physically impossible for Utah and other Upper Basin states to release our legally required water deliveries downstream. We will offer strategies and adaptation policies we could implement to sustain our water supply on the Wasatch Front, protect our state’s best interest and live in relative peace with neighboring states and Mexico. Water policy is changing rapidly across the entire Colorado River Basin, and while it may seem removed from the Wasatch Front, the reforms taking place in the coming years will likely have direct impacts on all Utahns.

While the basin states still haven't come up with a solution for the drastic water cuts called for by the Bureau of Reclamation, one thing is clear: every city, town, and farm will be forced to adapt to life with less water.

The poster session is a forum for presenters to highlight programs and to share successful ideas with colleagues by presenting a research study, a practical problem-solving effort, or an innovative program or project. Posters are listed alphabetically by title.
==> Full Abstracts

Adaptive Management Strategies at Big Bend Habitat Restoration Area
Anders Eckert, Utah Conservation Corps & West Jordan City Parks
The Big Bend Restoration Project is located along the Jordan River and is filled with a high abundance of biodiversity. The Big Bend provides a native home for many different species offering reprieve from the Urban infrastructure found around the park. This presentation will inform Adaptive Management Strategies and plans for the Big Bend Site.

An Urban Canal and the Logan River: Bugs, Leaves, and Water Quality
Ellie Smith-Eskridge, Utah State University
For my masters research, I compared water quality, freshwater invertebrates, and leaf decomposition between an urban canal and a natural stream, the Logan River. The canal showed faster leaf decomposition relative to the Logan River, and leaf-shredding amphipods were abundant in the canal.

End-Member Mixing Analysis of the Upper Provo River
Alyssa Thompson, Brigham Young University
The Provo River is an important water source for Utah County, but little is known about the sources of water that feed into this river. This study identifies these main sources of water, what the chemistry of these sources look like, and calculates the percent contribution from each of these sources to understand how these sources change over time.

Green Infrastructure Microbial Community Response to Storm Events
Yvette Hastings, University of Utah
Have you ever wondered what stormwater green infrastructure (SGI) bioswales are? In this presentation, I will describe what these are and how soil microbial communities respond to precipitation events in experimental bioswales.

How Dry Must the Great Salt Lake Be to Produce Hazardous Dust?
Thorn Merrill, University of Utah
Airborne dust effects the air quality of the Wasatch front in Utah. One of the closest dust sources is the Great Salt Lake Playa. Surface crust and soil moisture are two main dictators of dust emission in an emissive area. Where there is broken or absent crust dust emission decreases as soil moisture increases.

Investigating Ground and Surface Interactions within Utah Lake, UT
Justin McCurry, Courtney Brown, Kyle Johnson, Daren Nelson, Utah Valley University
Our team is investigating the effectiveness of identifying groundwater and surface water interactions of cold water springs at Utah Lake, UT by integrating traditional flow analyses with thermal imaging cameras from small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Jordan River Channel Improvements at Brighton North Point Diversion
Hannah Murphy, Salt Lake County Watershed Planning & Restoration
Removal of the Brighton North Point Canal diversion structure provided a seamless, navigable river system, reestablishing flood plains, improving instream habitat, and mitigating invasive weed species throughout.

LGBTQIA+ DEI Efforts of Birding & Bird Conservation Organizations
Georgie Corkery, Utah State University
The goal of this research is to develop a DEI handbook template for the birding community, with a completed section on LGBTQAI+. This will be executed via an analysis of DEI efforts of 16 birding and bird conservation organizations, interviews with queer birders, and a look into queer ecology.

Mapping Flows of Influence Across Utah's Two Largest Lakes
Shannon Lambson, Brigham Young University; Ben Abbott, Brigham Young University
An interactive look at how information and influence move between stakeholders, using the Utah Lake islands proposal as a case study. We invite input during the session from the community about how to improve coordination and communication in conservation and restoration efforts for the integrated Great Salt Lake system.

Microbial Community Analysis of Anaerobic Digesters
Maliea Holden, Brigham Young University
Caldicellulosiruptor bescii, when used as a pretreatment of waste activated sludge, increases gas production and decreases solid waste in anaerobic digestion effluent.

Microbial Community Composition to Fingerprint Dust Emission Sources
DeTiare Leifi, Brigham Young University
Particular microbial communities unique to land use and location may serve as general indicators in dust fingerprinting.

Muddy Snow and Hazardous Air: Dust Transport from Great Salt Lake
Maura Hahnenberger, Shane Schmidt, Salt Lake Community College
The decline of the Great Salt Lake has exposed large areas of shoreline that now produce hazardous dust when winds blow. Continued episodic drought and consumptive water use will make recovery of Great Salt Lake levels a challenge, posing the threat of continued hazardous dust transport into the future.

Nutrient Release from Utah Lake Wetting and Drying Cycles
Kate Scanlan, Brigham Young University
Utah Lake littoral sediments are subject to frequent drying and wetting cycles that are a result of annual variability in water levels across Utah Lake. These changing water levels result from a combination of natural and anthropogenic factors, and can lead to potentially increased nutrient release rates of N, P, and organic C.

Opportunities for Increasing Mass Transit in Suburban Utah County
Katie Lawrence, Brigham Young University
Transportation is a large source of air and stormwater pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. This pollution has only increased with suburban sprawl. Thus, we are proposing a framework for changes to Utah's mass transit infrastructure based on a local spatial analysis, and discussing the implications for air and water quality.

Seasonal Nutrient Limitations of Various Microbes in Utah Lake
Sarah Chan, Brigham Young University
Cyanobacterial and algal blooms present unique issues to be understood thoroughly. We found that the nutrient limitation of cyanobacteria, and to a lesser extent phytoplankton, was influenced by season and space.

Thermal Spring Interactions at Utah Lake via the use of UAVS
Kyle Johnson, Justin McCurry, Courtney Brown, Daren Nelson, Utah Valley University
Our team is investigating the effectiveness of utilizing thermal imaging cameras from small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to better understand how thermal hot springs are interacting with Utah Lake and its surrounding ecosystems.

Toxic Algae in a Changing Climate: Protecting Recreational Health
Hannah Bonner, Utah Division of Water Quality
Warming water temperatures, declining reservoir levels, and increasing human disturbance all foster the growth of harmful algal blooms (HABs). The Utah Division of Water Quality (UDWQ), in partnership with local health departments, works to mitigate this risk through cooperation, communication, and proactive monitoring in Salt Lake County.

Toxin Producers or Non-Toxin Producers: What causes them to Bloom?
Shadman Kaiser, University of Utah; Ramesh Goel, University of Uta