Quality and sources of ground water used for public supply in Salt Lake Valley, Salt Lake County, Utah, 2001

Abstract

iii FOREWORDThe U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is committed to serve the Nation with accurate and timely scientific information that helps enhance and protect the overall quality of life, and facilitates effective management of water, biological, energy, and mineral resources (http://www.usgs.gov/). Information on the quality of the Nation's water resources is of critical interest to the USGS because it is so integrally linked to the long-term availability of water that is clean and safe for drinking and recreation and that is suitable for industry, irrigation, and habitat for fish and wildlife. Escalating population growth and increasing demands for the multiple water uses make water availability, now measured in terms of quantity and quality, even more critical to the long-term sustainability of our communities and ecosystems.The USGS implemented the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) program to support national, regional, and local information needs and decisions related to water-quality management and policy (http:// water.usgs.gov/nawqa). Shaped by and coordinated with ongoing efforts of other Federal, State, and local agencies, the NAWQA program is designed to answer: What is the condition of our Nation's streams and ground water? How are the conditions changing over time? How do natural features and human activities affect the quality of streams and ground water, and where are those effects most pronounced? By combining information on water chemistry, physical characteristics, stream habitat, and aquatic life, the NAWQA program aims to provide science-based insights for current and emerging water issues and priorities. NAWQA results can contribute to informed decisions that result in practical and effective water-resource management and strategies that protect and restore water quality.Since 1991, the NAWQA program has implemented interdisciplinary assessments in more than 50 of the Nation's most important river basins and aquifers, referred to as Study Units (http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/ nawqamap.html). Collectively, these Study Units account for more than 60 percent of the overall water use and population served by public water supply, and are representative of the Nation's major hydrologic landscapes, priority ecological resources, and agricultural, urban, and natural sources of contamination.Each assessment is guided by a nationally consistent study design and methods of sampling and analysis. The assessments thereby build local knowledge about water-quality issues and trends in a particular stream or aquifer while providing an understanding of how and why water quality varies regionally and nationally. The consistent, multi-scale approach helps to determine if certain types of water-quality issues are isolated or pervasive, and allows direct comparisons of how human activities and natural processes affect water quality and ecological health in the Nation's diverse geographic and environmental settings. Comprehensive assessments on pesticides, nutrients, volatile organic compounds, trace metals, ...

Understanding the Water Resources of a Mountain‐block Aquifer: Tucson Mountains, Arizona

“…At the small scale of mountain headwater catchments, tracer studies have been combined with hydrologic flux observations and in some cases with modeling to constrain the relation between precipitation, soil storage, and streamflow (e.g., Katsuyama et al 2005;Aishlin and McNamara 2011;Ajami et al 2011;Gabrieli et al 2012;Dwivedi et al 2019). Isotope tracers have been applied at the scale of mountain blocks to track groundwater movement within mountain blocks (Winograd et al 1998;Earman 2004) and to identify mountain-block recharge (MBR) to surrounding lowland aquifers (James et al 2000;Manning and Solomon 2004;Thiros and Manning 2004;Wahi et al 2008;Harris et al 2010;Newton et al 2012;Eastoe and Rodney 2014). Eastoe and Wright (2019) examined the distribution of isotope tracers in mountain-block groundwater of the southern Basin-and-Range Province, identifying several recharge mechanisms that appear to depend on altitude and lithology.…”