TO:Provo River Watershed Council and Cooperating Entities

FROM:John Whitehead, Chair

Division of Water Quality

DATE:March 20, 2014

SUBJECT:Agenda for April 2, 2014 Provo River Watershed Council Meeting

Please join us at our next meeting scheduled for 9:00 am Tuesday April 2nd at Orem City Public Works located at 1450 West 550 North in Orem. This meeting will focus on development in the watershed and research conducted by iUtah. I will look forward to the presentations and discussions. Thank you for your support.

AGENDA

Welcome and Introductions………………………………….…………………………………………..John Whitehead (UDWQ)

Approval of January 7, 2014 Minutes…………………………………………………………….…. John Whitehead (UDWQ)

Mountain Accord……………………………………………………………………………………………………....Laura Briefer (SLCo)

Wasatch County Development……………………………………………………………….….Doug Smith (Wasatch County)

iUtah Research on the Middle Provo River…….…………………………………………………………...Joe Crawford (BYU)

Annual Water Quality Report………………………………………….…………Alane Boyd (Desert Rose Environmental)

FY15 Work Plan for PRWC………………………………………………………………………………….…Sandy Wingert (UDWQ)

Other Business…………………………………………………………………………………………………..John Whitehead (UDWQ)

Minutes April 2, 2014

Laura Briefer (SLCo): Twenty entities are in charge of making decisions for the Wasatch Mountain development. They all have signed a local agreement and agreed $3.5 million in funding. Phase 1 (January 2014 – 2015) consists of identifying issues and planning process. Areas of focus (system groups) include environment, recreation, transportation, and economy. The outcome of Phase 1 will be project area designs and will use the NEPA process to implement. Decisions will be made holistically on the overall watershed scale health. Each of the 4 system groups will come up with their ideal goals in August 2014 and overlap/differences will be assessed. Wasatch back was recently included in the project area. Wasatch County is not included in the planning process but should be. More information:
Doug Smith (Wasatch County): Population is 25,000 with a 4-5% growth per year. Resort Specialty Planned Area (RSPA) is located on the westside of Jordanelle. Military Installation Development Authority (MIDA) is located within the RSPA. MIDA will be a four-season resort catering to military personnel. It consists of 3,200 acres. Wasatch County is rewriting RSPA code to include new ski plan and with MIDA in mind. Several other developments include: Hideout Canyon, Iroquois, Canyon Trails, Victory Ranch plus 8 others. There is increase pressure to develop the valley floor. The 30 year built is for 90,000 population. Wasatch County will keep PRWC updated on development at each quarterly meeting.
Joe Crawford (BYU): iUTAH (innovative Urban Transitions and Aridregion Hydro-sustainability) is statewide effort dedicated to maintaining and improving water sustainability in Utah. This 5-year $20 million award has given among a collaborative group of academia between Utah State University, University of Utah, and Brigham Young University. They will build observatory and modeling facilities across 3 watersheds (Logan River, Red Butte, and Provo River) looking at how climate change, land use, and sustainability all increasing will affect the watershed health. Sites monitored in the Provo River include Trial Lake, below Jordanalle Reservoir, Charleston, and Midway (Soapstone Basin). The Charleston and Midway will be fully constructed once the snow melts. Data collection will finish in June 2014 and thus have 2 years’ worth of data. Here is the link to the overall project: and here is the link to the water quality data:
Alane Boyd (Desert Rose Environmental): The 2012 -2013 annual water quality report will encompass data from October 1, 2011 – September 30, 2013 (2 years). Sources of data include USGS (groundwater), Central Utah Water Conservancy District (field data), DWQ and Chemtech Ford (chemical). The annual water quality report should be made available this summer. Alane will present it to the Council at the October meeting.
Sandy Wingert (UDWQ): The FY2015 Workplan is underway and should be finalized by June. There is a decrease in the budget from previous years.
Sam Rushforth (Rushforth Phycology): They are starting to compile a long-term algal dataset. Deer Creek Reservoir goes from a hypertrophic to mesotrophic when the nutrient concentration is lower. There is also change in species dominance from a decrease in blue-green alga and increase in diatoms. Another project is the preparation of a rapid response report which basically looks at what’s coming down the river that can clog filters and produce odors. Would this report be helpful to the Council?
Next meeting is scheduled for June 3 at 9AM at Jordanelle Reservoir Visitor Center.