Watershed Symposium 2018

What Should the Water Quality Goals for Great Salt Lake Wetlands Be?

GSL experts provided UDWQ with info on what GSL wetlands look like in good and poor condition and the threats to wetlands. This info will be used to create water quality standards for GSL wetlands.

Full Abstract
The Utah Division of Water Quality (UDWQ) has been working to develop water quality standards for the wetlands of Great Salt Lake. Specifically we need to define a beneficial use (what the water is used for) that captures the most important parts of the wetland ecosystem and narrative standard criteria (what is and is not allowed in the water) that best protects wetlands. Determining the appropriate water quality goals for any wetland is difficult because water quality changes naturally throughout the year, which makes it challenging to detect poor conditions caused by human activities. Great Salt Lake wetlands are even more challenging to protect because of complex environmental gradients (especially salinity and flooding), extensive management activities, and complicated water sources. UDWQ conducted Conservation Action Planning (CAP) meetings to draw on the knowledge of a wide variety of experts that helped us understand the most important characteristics of our wetlands, the best indicators of wetland health, threats to wetlands, and strategies for protecting them. Participants in CAP meetings were experts in a broad range of topics, from birds to chemistry. In the meetings participants refined definitions of the most important ecosystem types – impounded, fringe, and playa/mudflat wetlands – and the birds that used the wetlands. Once those were defined, the meetings focused on what wetland features, from water depth to what plant species are growing, that best showed whether a wetland was in good or poor health. Finally, participants identified the biggest threats to wetlands – drought and invasive species – and came up with strategies for protecting wetlands against those threats. UDWQ will take the results of the meetings and other research into account as we come up with goals for GSL wetlands.