Engineering Commons^™

Wetland Arid Vegetation – Studies Of Vegetated Stormwater Management System Performance In Northern Utah – Field & Lab Experiences, Ryan Dupont, Margie Rycewicz-Borecki, Trixie Rife

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Motivation for the Work We’ve Done – The Why

Summary of the Work We’ve Done - The What & The How

Findings - The How Well

Conclusions & Recommendations – The So What

Review Of The Utah Snow Load Study, Marc Maguire, Brennan Bean, Yan Sun

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Proper consideration of snow loads in building design can be a delicate balancing act:

• Underestimates lead to structure failure
• Overestimates lead to increased construction costs

Accelerating The Implementation Of Secondary Water Metering In Utah, Western Resource Advocates

All In-stream Flows Material

Utah is one of the fastest-growing states in the US, ⁱ and among the most arid. Water conservation has been identified by the state and many local communities as a key strategy for managing water supplies under these conditions. ⁱⁱ

Bioproducts From Bacteria: A Synthetic Biology Approach, Andrew Walters, Ron Sims, Charles Miller

Research on Capitol Hill

What can synthetic biology do?

Synthetic biology can solve many of Utah's problems:

1. Health: generate better medicines and treatments

- Insulin, Artemisinin (anti-malaria drug), Cancer

2. Fuel: augment petroleum with biofuels and biogas

3. Electricity: directly generate electricity from waste

4. Food: engineer more nutritious food with higher yields

- Golden rice, Arctic Apples, Corn, Soybeans, Cotton

5. Products: generate necessary products renewably

- Bioplastics, Spider silk, Adhesives, Pigments, Perfumes

A Collaborative Solution To Harmful Algal Blooms In Utah, Kyle Hillman, Bethany Jensen, Ammon Balle

Research on Capitol Hill

Harmful algal blooms (HABs)…

• affect Utah Lake, Scofield Reservoir, Jordanelle Reservoir, Mantua Lake, and other water bodies throughout Utah
• are toxic to public health, the environment, and the economy

The Utah Snow Load Study, Brennan Bean, Marc Maguire, Yan Sun

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Recent reports of snow related building collapses across the western United States in early 2017 highlight the importance of snow load considerations in building design. Specifying such design snow loads requires a proper balance between safety and economy. As articulated by Nowak and Collins (2012): "Conceptually, we can design [a] structure to reduce the probability of failure, but increasing the safety...beyond a certain optimum level is not always economical." It is the search for this optimum level of safety that has motivated the development of design ground snow loads at state and local levels.

2016 Utah Angler Periodic Survey: Project Summary Report, R. J. Lilieholm, J. M. Keating, R. S. Krannich

All In-stream Flows Material

This report presents results derived from an online random sample survey of Utah residents and non-residents who were licensed to fish in the State of Utah over the 2016 calendar year. The survey was designed to provide estimates of angling activity and fish caught/kept information across the State as a whole, and at specific key locations. Additional questions asked anglers about trip satisfaction, crowding, fishing methods, and boat access. Key methods and findings from this study include the following:

Wildfire In Utah: The Physical And Economic Consequences Of Wildfire, Paul Mark Jakus, Man-Keun Kim, Randy S. Martin, Ian Hammond, Edd Hammill, Nancy O. Mesner, Jacob Stout

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

PRELUDE

On June 26, 2012 a lightning strike ignited a wildfire in the Manti-La Sal National Forest of central Utah’s Carbon and Emery counties (Figure P.1). By the time the Seeley wildfire was contained three weeks later, some 48,000 acres of federal, state, and private land had been burned and $8.7 million in suppression costs expended (Styler 2012). According to the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS.gov) project, nearly one-third of the acreage was severely burned, damaging vegetation and soils for years to come. Severe burns vastly increase the erosion potential of burnt landscapes, and the steep lands of Huntington …

Report To The Utah Legislature Number 2015-01: A Performance Audit Of Projections Of Utah's Water Needs, John M. Schaff

All In-stream Flows Material

The Division of Water Resources’ projections indicate that Utah’s statewide demand for water will outstrip the currently developed supply in about 25 years. Some believe the state can address its growing demand for water through conservation and by developing local supplies, including the conversion of agriculture water to municipal use. Others believe the state’s growing demand for water will require the development of major new sources of supply that will cost billions of dollars. Considering the importance of water to the health, social and the economic well-being of our state’s residents, it is essential that the division provide the best …

Watershed Management And Water Production Study For State Of Utah, Ibrahim Nourein Mohammed, David G. Tarboton

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The amount of water produced from a watershed depends on the climate, soils, geology, land cover and land use. Precipitation water inputs in the form of rain or snow are partitioned by the watershed into evapotranspiration, runoff and groundwater recharge. This study has examined factors that may impact the production of runoff from Utah watersheds, focusing on factors related to land and watershed management. Specifically we are interested in how land use changes, such as afforestation, deforestation, agricultural, urban, industrial and mining development, impact runoff. The scale of interest is regional subbasins at the USGS cataloging unit 8 digit Hydrologic …

Final Report For Irrigation Water Quality Monitoring Of The Jordan River, 2008, Richard C. Peralta, Bassel Timani

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The goal of the Jordan River Water Quality Project is to assess the quality of irrigation water removed from the Jordan River at three diversion locations: Jordan Narrows (JN), Cahoon and Maxfield (CM), and Jordan & Salt Lake Canal (JSLC). During 2008, Salt Lake City Corporation personnel took water samples on 12 dates from April 18 to September 25, 2008. Utah State University Analytical Laboratories (USUAL), an EPAcertified laboratory, performed water analyses on the samples. USUAL is located at Utah State University (USU) in Logan, Utah.

Preliminary Pumping Strategy Analyses For Southeastern Cache Valley, Utah And River Baseflow Impacts, Shyamal B. Chowdhury, Richard C. Peralta

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

US/REMAX, a linear optimization model for groundwater management, is used to compute preliminary optimal sustained groundwater pumping increases for southeastern Cache Valley. US/REMAX employs the response matrix method of representing system response to stimuli as constraint equations within an optimization problem. The management objective is to maximize groundwater extraction at four specified locations subject to constrai~ts on aquifer potentiometric head, aquifer/river interflow, and the water level in the uppermost aquifer layer. Four scenarios (constraint sets) are presented. The results are most sensitive to the aquifer/river interflow constraints. Interflow is deemed important because baseflows are crucial to satisfying fish, aquatic life, …

Optimal Perennial Groundwater Yield Planning For The East Shore Area, Utah, Shu Takahashi, Richard C. Peralta

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Computer models are developed for computing optimal perennial groundwater withdrawal strategies for the East Shore Area of Utah's Great Salt Lake. The underlying aquifer has three confined or unconfined layers. Both embedding and response matrix (RM) approaches are tested and compared. Historically, it has been difficult to incorporate simulation of an unconfined aquifer and many external flow equations described by nonsmooth functions within linear programming models. RM models normally assume system linearity. The presented RM model overcomes this difficulty using cycling and influence coefficients generated with a modified MODFLOW model. In this groundwater flow simulation model, the above nonlinear terms …

Optimal Sustained-Yield Groundwater Pumping Strategy For The East Shore Area, Utah, Shu Takahashi, Richard C. Peralta

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Optimal sustained-yield pumping strategies were developed for the irrigated and industrialized eastern shore of the Great Salt Lake. The combined optimization and simulation model contains steady-state, finite difference, quasi-three-dimensional, groundwater flow equations embedded as constraints. The model computes the optimal spatial distribution of sustainable annual groundwater pumping rates for alternative scenarios. The addressed aquifer is a multilayer and confined/unconfined (linear/nonlinear) system. The research can help manage water in the study area, where the demand for water of sufficient quality and quantity is increasing due to urbanization.

Pesticide Use On Utah's Crops, Howard M. Deer, Richard C. Peralta, Majid Ehteshami

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Utah State University's Cooperative Extension Service has placed high priority on a Water Quality Initiative for Utah. As a part of that emphasis, a research project was initiated to analyze the hazards that agricultural chemicals pose to Utah's ground water. The initial phase of this research was to determine those locations in Utah that are at greatest risk of ground water contamination by pesticides. This was accomplished by interfacing data on pesticide usage with soil and hydrologic factors. The results identified specific areas in the state where potential hazards exist. This report summarizes data on the use of pesticides on …

Effects Of Alternative Furrow Irrigation Parameters On Pesticide Movement In Cropped Areas In Utah, Antonio Maria Requena, Ahmad Yar Ranjha, Richard C. Peralta, Howard M. Deer, Majid Ehteshami, Robert W. Hill

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Production of adequate supplies of food and fiber currently requires that pesticides be used to limit crop losses caused by insects, pathogens, weeds and other pests. Although pesticides are necessary in today' s agriculture, they can be a serious problem if they reach and contaminate ground water, especially where drinking water needs are met by ground water. The relative reduction of potential ground-water contamination due to agricultural use of pesticides was analyzed for particular sites in Utah. The potential reduction of pesticides in ground water was considered by utilizing alternative irrigation systems, water management practices and pesticides. A one-dimensional simulation …

Pesticide And Water Management Alternatives To Mitigate Potential Ground-Water Contamination For Selected Counties In Utah, Majid Ehteshami, Antonio M. Requena, Richard C. Peralta, Howard M. Deer, Robert W. Hill, Ahmad Yar Ranjha

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Production of adequate supplies of food and fiber currently requires that pesticides be used to limit crop losses from insects, pathogens, weeds and other pests. Although pesticides are necessary in today's agriculture, they can be a serious problem if they reach and contaminate ground water, especially in places where drinking water needs are supplied from ground water. The relative reduction of potential ground-water contamination due to agricultural use of pesticides was analyzed for particular sites in Utah. The potential reduction of pesticides in ground water was considered by utilizing alternative irrigation systems, water management practices and pesticides. A one-dimensional simulation …

The Policy Process: Cooperation As An Initiative In Utah, Richard C. Peralta, Ann W. Peralta

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Drastic Indices For Selected Agricultural Areas In Utah, Ahmad Yar Ranjha, Richard C. Peralta, Majid Ehteshami

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The main objective of this report is to present contour maps of DRASTIC indices for selected areas in Utah. In general, the higher the DRASTIC index value, the greater the potential for ground-water pollution. The acronym DRASTIC is derived from the following hydrogeologic factors which affect vertical movement of water through the soil, and hence affect downward movement of contaminant.

Agricultural Pesticide Hazard To Groundwater In Utah, Hubert Eisele, Majid Ehteshami, Richard C. Peralta, Howard M. Deer, Terry T. Tindall

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

We gratefully acknowledge the funding support of the Utah Department of Agriculture and the following offices at Utah State University. The Department of Agricultural and Irrigation Engineering, the International Irrigation Center, the Department of Animal, Dairy and Veterinary Sciences, the Department of Soil Science and Biometerology, and the University Extension Services.

Coordinating Institutional Approaches To Assure Sustainable Groundwater Of Adequate Quality And Quantity In Utah, Richard C. Peralta, A. W. Peralta, K. Wyatt, Robert W. Hill

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Utah is an arid state, without the abundant surface water resources enjoyed by states in the humid east. Most precipitation in the state falls in the higher elevations of the Uinta and Wasatch mountains of northern and central Utah. Much of this precipitation ultimately ends up in alluvial deposits at the base of these ranges, from which the vast majority of pumping wells draw their water (Barnes and Croft, 1986). This groundwater is an essential resource for use by the people of Utah. About sixty-three percent of Utah's population is at least partially reliant on groundwater for domestic use. In …

Multiple Uses Of Utah Irrigation Canals: Cache County As A Case Study, James J. Kennedy, Komain Unhanand

Reports

Irrigation use is an obvious benefit of Utah canals that has been recognized for over 100 years. This study attempts to illustrate other, less obvious, uses. the major use examined was recreational, but canals are presently functioning as storm drainage systems and have potential for diverting flood crests in many river systems.

Recreational use of canals falls into two categories. There is passive use such as its landscape values, affects on creating shade and bird-wildlife habitat, etc., that is difficult to quantify but no less important than active canal use such as tubing, hiking, bank-play, bicycling, etc. We selected several …

Henrys Fork Project Wyoming-Utah, Bureau Of Reclamation; Department Of Interior

Elusive Documents

The accompanying report on the potential Henrys Fork project presents in reconnaissance scope the possibilities for further water resource development in the Henrys Fork and Sheep Creek Basins in northeastern Utah and southwestern Wyoming. The report is based on findings of recent investigations conducted during the past year although much of the available basic data used in the studies was obtained in previous intermittent investigations made during the past 50 years.

Stabilization Studies On Soil-Cement Mixtures For Experimental Lining--Logan Experimental Section--Logan, Utah, United States Department Of The Interior, Bureau Of Reclamation

Elusive Documents

Earth Materials Laboratory Report No. EM-170 covers the laboratory tests made on one type of soil from Logan, Utah, for the purpose of using the soil in soil-cement canal lining experiments. The intention was that two types of soil would be used for experimental linings at Logan, Utah; a fine sandy soil, poorly graded with little or no silt (Classification Symbol SP) and a fine sandy soil with excess silt (Classification Symbol SF-silty). These field test sections which will provide durability and permeability information gathered under natural conditions were carried out as part of a joint lower-cost canal lining experiment …