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One of the biggest challenges in protecting our water is determining whether the water is polluted and in determining whether our BMPs have helped improve the water.
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​The Utah Division of Water Quality and its partners monitor our water for several distinct purposes:

Assessment:

Utah streams and lakes are routinely monitored by the Division of Water Quality (UDWQ) through Utah's Water Quality Monitoring program to ensure their designated beneficial uses are being supported. The water quality data are available through UDWQ's Ambient Water Quality Monitoring System.

The results of this monitoring are compiled every two years in an "Integrated Report" that summarizes the status of Utah's waters.                                                 -Integrated Report, Current: 2012-2014

Monitoring to determine if our waters are improving:

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Utah's DWQ and its many partners also monitor our rivers, lakes, and other water bodies to determine if the implementation of best management practices has actually improved our water quality.  This is often less straightforward than it seems, because each BMP may only reduce a small amount of pollution compared to the amount being produced in the watershed.  The Best Management Practices Monitoring Guide for Stream Systems provides guidance on appropriate and effective monitoring strategies ​for specific monitoring objectives.

​Utah's Watershed Coordinators and the UDWQ Watershed Scientists/TMDL Coordinators help plan and implement monitoring programs to determine the success of these efforts.

Several other partners support this monitoring effort: