JORDAN RIVER RETURN FLOW STUDY

Rapid population growth and land use change (from agricultural to municipal/industrial use) is increasing the demand for treated water in the Salt Lake Valley. As water demands increase, alternative supplies, such as water reuse becomes more important in meeting these demands.

Project Outcomes

Creating a user-friendly, defensible model. A water balance model is being created for the Salt Lake Valley to characterize the flows in the Jordan River and evaluate the effects of future changes in human activity and urbanization. The model was created using VOYAGE, a CH2M HILL proprietary software tool. This model offers an optimization component that will help the user to select the best (optimized) combination of sources for future supplies based on cost - benefit analysis, and/or other objectives such as minimum flow requirement in the river. Users are able to access compiled historic data through a companion GIS “Smart Map” that is linked to a Microsoft Access database.

Characterizing Jordan River Return Flows. This study has yielded an understanding of:

·	Water supply to the basin (including basin supplies, import supplies, and groundwater pumping) and the ability to track the water cycle components back to the river
·	Municipal/industrial water demands across the Salt Lake Valley
·	Agricultural demands across the Salt Lake Valley (estimate water demands for irrigation districts and account for diversions from the river)
·	Return flows from irrigation (M&I lawn watering and agricultural irrigation)
·	Complex relationship between water use entities and sewer collection systems to account for wastewater effluent
·	Inflows to the River (natural stream tributaries and groundwater inflows, M&I/Agricultural return flows, and Utah Lake releases), all of which are affected by wet and dry hydrologic periods