Meetings set to explain groundwater treatment proposal

SOUTH JORDAN — The first in a series of informational meetings about a proposal to pipe the treated byproducts of a groundwater cleanup project to the Great Salt Lake's Gilbert Bay is scheduled for Wednesday.

Members of a stakeholder forum will gather from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the South Jordan Community Center, 10778 S. Redwood Road.

An open house that includes an informational session and people on hand to answer questions is from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. March 22 in Room 227 of the Utah State Library, 250 N. 1950 West, Salt Lake City.

Those two meetings are in advance of a public comment period that begins later this month on a draft permit sought by the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District.

The district is seeking permission from state water quality regulators to construct a 21-mile pipeline to convey the byproducts of contaminated groundwater after the water has been treated through reverse osmosis.

Although the contaminants are separated from the water as it moves through a semi-permeable membrane, the byproducts made up of primarily dissolved salts and traces of selenium remain.

The EPA has a selenium standard for fresh water through controls put in place for fresh water, but no such national standard exists for salt.

State water quality officials came up with a Utah-specific standard in tandem with the district's proposal, which also will result in an appropriation of an extra 4,000 gallons of municipal quality drinking water to be made available to four Salt Lake County cities.

A similar proposal to discharged the byproducts of the treated contaminated water to the Jordan River brought a public outcry in 2003 because of concerns over the impacts of selenium on waterfowl.

Water quality officials also expect concern over this proposal because selenium — although a naturally occurring element — can have detrimental impacts on waterfowl at the Great Salt Lake.

After extensive studies that have involved the collection of avian eggs, water quality officials do not believe the proposed discharge will elevate selenium to harmful levels.

In addition to the 60-day comment period, comments will be accepted in another meeting May 5 at the state library.

Details for those meetings can be found on the project information Web site, deq.utah.gov/Issues/hottopics/swjvgwtp/swjvgwtp.htm.

e-mail: amyjoi@desnews.com