ABSTRACT:

This is a final report that summarizes the findings of a survey of stormwater managers in Utah conducted by Andrea Armstrong (Sociology, USU) in partnership with the Utah Stormwater Advisory Committee (USWAC). The final report includes an overview of methods, descriptive findings, and an executive summary.

The purpose of this effort was to collect statewide data, in partnership with the Utah Storm Water Advisory Committee, on stormwater managers attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors surrounding various aspects of stormwater management, including document updates, use of low impact development infrastructure, monitoring activities, water quality condition perceptions, changes in landscape and climate patterns, partnerships with irrigation organizations, information uses, program challenges, important dimensions of program activities, and water quality monitoring activities.

ABSTRACT:

This dataset consists of information on water infrastructure projects that were funded by the Utah Board of Water Resources within the Division of Water Resources, between March 1998 and June 2013. The database consists of three types of files: 1) pdf files of the publically available Board of Water Resources reports, which describe proposed and funded projects, 2) an Access database, in which researchers at Utah State University coded these reports across 341 variables, and 3) a geospatial database within which select infrastructure projects were digitized and spatially referenced. The geodatabase consists of line and point shapefiles, which represent a portion of the irrigation and municipal infrastructure projects financially supported by the Utah BWR.

Data were compiled from the 'board folders,' or summary reports of the Utah Board of Water Resources meetings. USU researchers developed a codebook (see the Access Database Variable Names document) to standardize the coding and categorization of information within board folders. Based on the coded information, projects were selected for digitization and creation of a shapefile (located within the geodatabase). Projects were hand-digitized using the National Hydrography Dataset and aerial imagery that corresponded with the time of project implementation.

ABSTRACT:

The purpose of this effort is to track longitudinal changes in stormwater organizations’ plans and activities, as represented on annual reports submitted to the Utah Division of Water Quality. There are two datasets available in this effort: the pdf files of annual reports, and a dataset that organizes key information extracted from the reports in a table format.

ABSTRACT:

This report summarizes results from my first year’s iUTAH fellowship (2012-13), which involved exploratory, qualitative research on local water management in the Wasatch Regional Metropolitan Area, specifically focusing on Cache Valley, Heber Valley, and the Red Butte Watershed of Salt Lake City, Utah. Data collection consisted of two types of activities: meeting observations and semi-structured interviews. I reviewed meeting notes and synthetic notes for prevailing themes, and distinguished between patterns that emerged both within and across the three study areas.

The structure of water management in the WRMA crosses macro-institutional, meso-watershed, and micro-individual scales. The focus of my research has been at the meso-scale, within which many local water management organizations (LWMOs) make critical decisions surrounding water quality and quantity. In this first phase of my work, I identify five types of key organization decisions made by LWMOs: operational, maintenance, water supply, infrastructure change, and enforcement. I then describe four types of linkages among WRMA water actors and provide examples of how these linkages impact LWMOs’ decisions. I then describe and analyze the ways in which LWMOs are making adaptive decisions in the face of key changes in urbanization and water availability. Two common adaptive processes are: (a) improving infrastructure efficiency, and (b) engaging in organizational partnerships. The report concludes with directions for future research. The LWMO interview instrument is included in the appendix.

ABSTRACT:

The purpose of this research is to understand the experiences of and challenges faced within local water management. Data were collected using in-person and telephone interview methods. Interview participants consisted of stormwater managers in municipalities, irrigation companies, and private firms throughout Utah. Participants were selected based upon the types of management arrangements in place surrounding stormwater conveyance. In total, 30 municipal representatives, 10 irrigation company representatives, and 3 private sector representatives participated. Detailed findings and preliminary analyses are included in this report.

ABSTRACT:

We evaluated volunteers' opinions of the Utah Water Watch program to see if there are ways that Utah Water Watch can improve. We assessed volunteers' knowledge and attitudes about water quality and science, and how these may have changed based upon their participation in the program.