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Research

The diverse topography, land use, climate, and water use within the Great Salt Lake Basin support a wide variety of research and scientific questions. The same characteristics that make the Great Salt Lake Basin a prime location for a Hydrologic Observatory have inspired a host of research studies that have been conducted within the Great Salt Lake Basin.

	USGS NAWQA - Recognizing the need for long-term, nationwide assessments of water resources, the U.S. Congress has appropriated funds since 1991 for the USGS to conduct the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. Scientists in the NAWQA Program work with partners in government, research, and public interest groups to assess the spatial extent of water quality conditions, how water quality changes with time, and how human activities and natural factors affect water quality. The Great Salt Lake Basins is one of 51 water-quality assessments initiated since 1991. LOCATION:  Bear River, Weber River, and Utah Lake Watersheds and the Great Salt Lake
	Western Lakes Catchment Systems - The USGS Bear Lake Project started in 1998 with the goal of creating records of past climate change for the Bear Lake region, including changes in precipitation (rain and snow) patterns during the last 10,000 years. As part of the project, the USGS is determining how the size of Bear Lake has varied in the past to assess the possibility of future flooding and drought. In addition, USGS is studying the extent of human influences on sediment deposition, chemistry, and life in the lake. Sediments in Bear Lake provide a detailed, but indirect, record of climate covering the last million years. Records such as this are critical to the understanding of current and future climate changes because they provide perspective on the trends and magnitude of climate change observed today. LOCATION:  Bear Lake and the Great Salt Lake
	MesoWest Atmospheric Monitoring - The MesoWest project networks surface atmospheric data from weather observing stations across the United States with particular emphasis placed on the intermountain region of the western United States. The data from the newtwork are placed in a common database to provide timely access to real-time weather observations. MesoWest relies upon informal agreements with over 120 local, state, federal agencies, and commercial firms to provide access to weather data. Over 150 surface observing stations are available within the Great Salt Lake Basin with an additional 150 stations within 100 km of the basin. LOCATION:  Great Salt Lake Basin wide
	Bear River Laboratory Watershed - A collaborative team at Utah State University, the Utah Water Research Laboratory, Utah Division of Water Quality, the Bear River Commission, and others participated in nominating the Bear River as a Targeted Watershed for EPA's Targeted Watersheds Grants Program. This study, which will be funded for three years starting Fall of 2004, will implement studies in the Bear River basin to develop and demonstrate: 1) an integrated Watershed Information System to facilitate data collection, data analysis, information transfer, and public outreach; 2) a water quality trading program to allow point and nonpoint pollutant sources to trade water quality credits; and 3) dynamic water quality modeling to support water quality trading and analysis of potential water quality management scenarios. LOCATION:  Bear River Watershed
	Red Butte Canyon Ecohydrologic Studies - The Red Butte Canyon Research Natural Area is located immediately east of the University of Utah campus. It is a 20.8 square mile (5,140 acre) protected watershed in nearly pristine condition, with land cover ranging from grassland to aspen-fir forest. The watershed, which is the only protected and near pristine canyon in the Wasatch Range of Utah, has been set aside primarily for research and education, and has a long and rich research history. It is managed by the U.S. Forest Service. LOCATION:  Utah Lake Watershed, just east of Salt Lake City
	Deseret Ranch Paired Basin Vegetation Manipulation Studies - It is hypothesized that vegetation restoration will influence the residence time distribution of water within a catchment because connectivity among stores of water (soil water, groundwater, etc) will be significantly influenced. This hypothesis is being investigated at a field site located in the Northern Wasatch Mountains of Utah. Two headwater basins to the Ogden River have been instrumented with stream gauges and other instrumentation in an attempt to develop residence time distributions for these catchments prior to and after manipulation to determine how the hydrology of the catchment is altered. Both catchments are roughly 1,000 acres in size, and both are located on Deseret Land and Livestock property. LOCATION:  Upper Weber River Watershed
	Southwest Jordan Valley Groundwater Cleanup Study - The project is designed to clean up ground water contaminated from historic mining activities in the Oquirrh Mountains in southwest Salt Lake County. Over the next 40 years, extraction and treatment of groundwater from the contaminated zones will remove contaminants and provide municipal-quality drinking water to the public in the Affected Area. By removing contaminated water from the underlying aquifer, the project will also improve groundwater quality and prevent further migration of the contamination in the valley. LOCATION:  South Jordan
	Utah State University Water Initiative Research Initiation Grants - To pursue the goal of fostering collaboration and interdisciplinary work across in the Water Sciences at Utah State University the Water Initiative supports interdisciplinary pilot research studies by USU faculty in the broad area of Water Sciences. These projects are selected on the basis of them serving the common good goal of strengthening interdisciplinary water science at USU. This program is intended to stimulate interdisciplinary research and education, build cooperation and institutional aspects of an integrated water sciences research and academic program, and attract additional interdisciplinary funding to USU water programs thereby elevating the prominence of USU in water sciences. Several projects were funded in 2004 related to the Great Salt Lake Basin. LOCATION:  Bear River Watershed
	Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed - The Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed is located within a few hours drive from Salt Lake City. This highly instrumented watershed, which is external to the Great Salt Lake Basin, but represents similar topography, climate, and hydrologic characteristics, has a 45 year history of monitoring can be used for hydrologic process studies in a physiographic setting similar to that of the Great Salt Lake Basin. LOCATION:  Southwestern Idaho
	Utah Division of Water Quality Monitoring - Utah assesses the quality of its surface water resources to protect it for drinking, fishing, boating irrigation, stock watering, and supporting aquatic wildlife. Ground water is assessed to protect it for drinking, agricultural, and industrial use. Data are compared against State water quality standards to determine beneficial use support. Various reports are written and disseminated to project sponsors, local and state officials, government and private entities and the public to expand the awareness of the need to protect and enhance the water quality of ground water, river, streams, lakes and reservoirs. In addition, water quality data are used to identify impaired water bodies and establish water quality goals for implementing projects to restore or protect water quality. Water quality data are also collected to do Total Maximum Daily Load Analyses for discharge permits and to assure that permit requirements under the Utah Pollution Discharge Elimination System (UPDES) program are being met, to evaluate the effectiveness of nonpoint source projects, and to do TMDLs analyses for selected water bodies or watersheds. Idaho, Wyoming, and Nevada have similar programs. LOCATION:  Great Salt Lake Basin wide
	PacifiCorp - PacifiCorp operates 9 of the 15 streamflow gages in the Bear River Basin. These gages are used to support operation of 4 hydroelectric facilities, irrigation deliveries, and documentation for minimum-flow and ramping requirements. The data are published annually by the USGS. PacifiCorp’s gages are located between Bear Lake and the irrigation diversions below Cutler Dam. Two of the gages measure the inflow and outflow from Bear River diversions into Bear Lake. Two measure the irrigation releases from Cutler Dam. The five other gages are on the Bear River. Three of these are real-time gages, which provide additional information for recreation interests. The large irrigation diversions on the river downstream of Bear Lake are planned to be made available real-time by the Bear River Water User’s Association in association with the Bureau of Reclamation. In addition to the streamflow gauging, PacifiCorp maintains a NWS cooperative weather station at the north end of Bear Lake, which also records pan evaporation. LOCATION:  Bear River Watershed