By Michael Enright, and D.E. Wilberg, and J.R. Tibbetts
Prepared in cooperation with the State of Utah
and other cooperators and agencies
Water-resources data for the 2004 water year for Utah consist of records of stage, discharge, and water quality of streams; stage and contents of lakes and reservoirs; and water levels and water quality of ground water. This report contains discharge records for 156 gaging stations; stage and contents for 8 lakes and reservoirs; water quality for 16 hydrologic stations, and 29 wells; water levels for 67 observation wells; and precipitation for 3 stations. Additional water data were collected at various sites not involved in the systematic data-collection program and are published as miscellaneous measurements. These data represent that part of the National Water Data System collected by the U.S. Geological Survey and cooperating State and Federal agencies in Utah.
During water year 2004, streamflows and ground-water levels in Utah again were lower than normal. This marked the sixth year (water year 1999 to 2004) of an ongoing drought in Utah and surrounding areas. Since the winter of 1998-1999, mountain snowpacks generally have been below normal statewide and have caused significant reductions in spring runoff. Additionally, soil moisture throughout the state has been very low during the drought, so a large proportion of spring melting has been absorbed into the subsurface. Utah requires above-normal precipitation (snowpack) during the winter and spring of 2004-2005 to alleviate the cumulative effects of this drought.
Hydrologic conditions for Utah can vary greatly across the State because of topography, geology, changing seasonal atmospheric conditions, and changes in climatic conditions from year to year.
Mountain ranges and plateaus in many parts of Utah are characterized by steep slopes, sparse vegetation, thin soils, and, in areas such as the Colorado River Basin, large expanses of bedrock and
steep-walled canyons. These conditions can lead to rapid runoff and flooding that can occur any time of the year. The large valleys and basins in the western part of Utah have a fairly flat
topography and are underlain with alluvial soils composed of clay, silt, sand, and gravel. Average annual precipitation in Utah ranges from about 5 inches in the Great Salt Lake Desert to about 60
inches on some of the State’s highest mountains (Butler and Marsell, 1972).
This report is contained in the following files:
1Introduction.pdf, Front cover, Contents, List of Stations, Discontinued stations, Hydrologic Conditions, Definitions, Map showing location of U.S. Geological Survey gaging stations in Utah (3.8 mb)
2Colorado.pdf, Station manuscripts, Colorado River Basin, stations 09163500 to 09183600 (1.3 mb).
3Green_River.pdf, Station manuscripts, Green River basin, stations 09317000 to 09328500 (7.1 mb).
4Dirty_Devil.pdf, Station manuscripts, Dirty Devil, Escalante, San Juan, and Paria, 09330000 to 09403600 (3.4 mb).
5Virgin_River.pdf, Station manuscripts, Virgin River basin, 09404450 to 09413900 (2.5 mb).
6Great_Salt_Lake.pdf, Station manuscripts of Great Salt Lake stations, 10110000 and 10010100 (.24 mb).
7Bear_River.pdf, Station manuscripts, Bear River Basin, 10011500 to 10126000 (4.5 mb).
8Weber_River.pdf, Station manuscripts, Weber River Basin, 10128500 to 10143500 (4.7 mb).
9Jordan_River.pdf, Station manuscripts, Jordan River Basin, 10145400 to 10172200 (4.2 mb).
10Great_Basin.pdf, Station manuscripts, Rush Valley, Tooele Valley, Snake Valley, tributaries between Great Salt Lake Desert and Bear River in the Great Basin, 10172700 to 10172952 (1.0 mb).
11Sevier_Lake.pdf, Sevier Lake Basin including Beaver River basin and Cedar Valley, Iron County, 10173450 to 10242000 (1.7 mb).
12Misc_records.pdf, Partial record station manuscripts, Union Pacific causeway, Oquirrh Mountains, and miscellaneous sites discharge records (0.5 mb).
13Ground_water.pdf, Ground water records, Beaver County to Weber County (1.0 mb).
14Water_quality.pdf, Miscellaneous water-quality data, Index. Back cover. (3.0 mb).
The files are readable with Adobe Acrobat Reader. The reader is available for free download from Adobe Systems Incorporated. .
Preface
Report documentation page
List of surface water stations, in downstream order, for which records are published in this volume
List of ground-water wells, by county, for which records are published in this volume
List of discontinued surface-water discharge or stage-only stations
List of discontinued surface-water-quality stations
Introduction
Cooperation
Summary of Hydrologic Conditions
Definition of terms
Downstream order and station number
Numbering system for wells and miscellaneous sites
Special networks and programs
Explanation of stage- and water-discharge records
Data collection and computation
Station manuscript
Peak discharge greater than base discharge
Data table of daily mean values
Statistics of monthly mean data
Summary statistics
Identifying estimated daily discharge
Accuracy of field data and computed results
Other data records available
Explanation of precipitation records
Data collection and computation
Data presentation
Explanation of water-quality records
Collection and examination of data
Water analysis
Surface-water-quality records
Classification of records
Accuracy of the records
Arrangement of records
On-site measurements and sample collection
Water temperature
Sediment
Laboratory measurements
Data presentation
Remarks codes
Water-quality control data
Blank samples
Reference samples
Replicate samples
Spike samples
Explanation of ground-water level records
Site identification numbers
Data collection and computation
Data presentation
Water-level tables
Hydrographs
Ground-water quality data
Data collection and computation
Laboratory measurements
Access to USGS water data
Surface-water records
Hydrologic data at Union Pacific Causeway
Discharge measurements at selected springs and tunnels during water year 2004
Discharge measurements made at miscellaneous sites during water year 2004
Ground-water level records
Wells
Miscellaneous water-quality data
Water-quality data Oquirrh Mountains, Tooele County
Quality of ground water, Wasatch County
National Water-Quality Assessment program
Quality of ground water in selected wells in Duchesne County
Index