Analysis of Jordan River Water Samples Salt Lake County, 2015

Samples Taken by: Mike Davis, Jason Ketchum, Liz Tanner, Bradley Bean, SLCC Geosciences Classes. - Special Thanks to Alex from SLCO Public Works for donating some of the map layers and outfall data. - Maps and poster created by Bradley Bean.

Abstract
Water Samples from the Jordan River have been tested on multiple occasions over about a year by SLCC students, and data from these samples and from 6 continuous
monitoring stations have been compiled and analyzed. There were no clear trends in the data indicating any point sources or narrow areas that can be focused on as
major causes of the pollution of the Jordan River. Continued Sampling and Data Analysis could reveal trends worthy of further investigation.

Background
The Jordan River runs 51 miles, starting from Utah Lake and making its way north through the Salt Lake Valley ending at the Great Salt Lake. The river is the major
waterway for Salt Lake City and all of the surrounding area, as all streams in the valley empty into it along the way. In the early years of settlement in the valley water
from the Jordan was diverted to be used for irrigation purposes, and the action of damming the river is still a debated and regulated subject today. The river was also
used multiple times to float construction materials for multiple projects in the late 1800s, but through the mining days of the early to middle 1900s the river was more
a thoroughfare for mine waste and leeching metals and chemicals than any commercial product. In more recent times much cleanup has been done to curb the effects
of these pollutants as their dangers come to light, and the Jordan River seems to be slowly healing from the effects of much damage. Currently the official uses for the
Jordan are as an avian resource and a warm water fishery, along with its uses in agriculture. Treated sewage is also funneled down the Jordan River from at least two
treatment plants in the Salt Lake Valley.

Winter 2015
Hypothesis
My hypothesis was that in the sampling and analysis of the samples that have been taken, along with the data from the continuous monitoring
stations, that there would be at least one point or area that would stand out as a major contributor to the polluted state of the Jordan River or at
very least a particular area that could be narrowed in on for more study in the future.

Methods
All the data samples are surface water samples taken directly from the Jordan River during three different seasons and tested on location of
sampling. The majority of the samples were taken by myself or other students at Salt Lake Community College, with a few locations being data
from one of the six continuous monitoring stations that take data every 15 minutes during daylight hours.
The student tested water samples were collected with a bucket attached to a rope with an attempt made to get as close to the center of the flow
as possible. Special care was taken to not take or stir up any sediment that would affect the samples. Samples were tested using 2 different water
meters measuring Temperature, pH, Dissolved Oxygen, EC, and in some cases DO percent. The samples taken in the fall also were tested for
nitrates using a small testing kit.
Continuous monitoring station data was collected by taking the reading from the data available online at about the same time that the other data
was being collected, for example if the student data was being collected on May 27th from 2-4pm, then data from the continuous monitoring
station was taken from the reading at 3pm on the same day.
Analysis was performed on the data generated using mainly ArcGIS to map and visually analyze the data using maps such as the ones found on
this presentation. Microsoft Excel was also used to create a variety of rudimentary charts and graphs to look for patterns.
Summer 2015

Results
As can be seen on the charts to the right the pH. DO, and Temperature varied between the samples and also between the different seasons.
The major trends that were observed:
Winter: Dissolved Oxygen decreases as the river flows north, but only after it diverts into smaller streams and canals.
Summer: The temperature varies up and down through the middle portion of the river, but only a range of about 3 degrees, so no major change,
DO also decreases slightly as the river trends north.
Fall: pH has one major spike right where the river splits course, and this change is not reflected in the other seasons. More testing would be
required to study whether this was a chance occurrence or a continued problem. Temperature is also somewhat variable, but only about a 3
degree spread.

Discussion
Although the data collected at the sample points did have areas of interest in certain fields such as variations in pH and Dissolved Oxygen, none
of these areas were continually affected throughout the year enough to pinpoint any one certain location or narrow area in particular as a major
contributor to the polluted condition of the Jordan River.
It appears most likely that the polluted state of the Jordan River is caused by much more than any few points or areas that can be focused on.
Fall 2015
With Utahs history of mining and the many streams that feed into the river, there are probably too many sources to trace the effect of any one
particular pollutant or area or source.

Conclusions
Hopefully students at SLCC will continue to perform water sampling along the Jordan River at the set points as having more and more data may
help trends and areas of interest appear. To find effects of major streams entering the river such as Big Cottonwood and Little Cottonwood Creek
more pointed testing would be required, but would be interesting to note, as the only waterways in Utah found to have continuously exceeded
monitoring levels are the Jordan River and Little Cottonwood Creek. Based on testing I would say that the Jordan River is surprisingly healthier
than I would have thought on beginning this project. Hopefully with the attention paid to cleanup and the environment as a nation, the Jordan
River will be in a state of constant improvement as samples are taken over time.
References:
Jordan River. (Accessed November 2015) Actual URL: http://hiddenwater.org/jordanRiver.html
History of the Jordan River in Utah. (Accessed November 2015) Actual URL: http://www.onlineutah.com/jordan_river.shtml
Frazier, Cody (June 2014) Accessed November 2015. Actual URL: http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/invisible-river/Content?oid=2418685&storyPage=2