Water Quality Sites and Data Management of Wells and Springs in Utah for the National Ground-Water Monitoring Network

The Utah Geological Survey has established a groundwater monitoring network in Utah to contribute to the National Ground-Water Monitoring Network (NGWMN). We have created a widespread and comprehensive monitoring network consisting of approximately 100 wells and springs. The primary goal is to document water-quality changes over time by sampling annually.  Additional goals are to document water resources in a well administered and maintained database and integrate our state-level data with a national-level database.

Our site selection criteria follows guidelines of the Framework Document (SOGW); the primary site selection criteria are accessibility and representativeness of aquifers of interest.  Most sites are designated for trend monitoring. The priority of our network is to characterize the water quality of key aquifers in Utah.  To ensure high accessibility, most of the wells in our network are regularly pumped and privately owned.  Public supply sources are only included if it is the only representative, accessible well in the area or sampled infrequently for limited chemistry (i.e., only NO₃ every few years), and only if the location is known and allowed to be disclosed.  We chose wells with sufficient aquifer information to ensure they are representative of the aquifer of interest.  We sample about 35 springs (smaller springs in mountain blocks/fronts to large regional springs).  Selected springs are accessible sampling points that represent major aquifer chemistry with no nearby well; large springs that represent the integrated aquifer chemistry for an entire drainage basin; or springs in mountain areas that represent chemistry of waters recharging the adjacent aquifers.

We are cooperating with the USGS to establish a connection between our network and the NGWMN, and providing the NGWMN with selected sites and related quality controlled data. We are currently establishing a database for our network to facilitate entry and integration of data to the NGWMN portal.