Storm runoff and water quality on three ephemeral washes in the Price River Basin, Utah

Anching Lin; William L. Jackson; Karla D. Knoop

ABSTRACT:

Eighteen late-summer runoff events were monitored in 1981 on three small watersheds in the Price River Basin, Utah. Average concentrations of total solids from a single storm ranged from 2.783 mg/1 on Coal Creek to 267,680 mg/1 on Wattis Branch. The largest discharge of total dissolved solids, 47 mg, was on Wattis Branch. Average single-storm concentrations of total dissolved solids ranged from 181 mg/1 on Coal Creek to 7,680 mg/1 on Wattis Branch. Particularly high concentrations of total solids and total dissolved solids occurred in runoff on all three watersheds during the first monitored storm following a long, dry period, suggesting a flushing of accumulated sediments and salts. Average storm total solids and total dissolved solids concentrations corresponded to surface soil-loss potential as indexed by universal soil loss equation parameters.

Footnotes

Anching Lin is a hydraulic engineer and Karla D. Knoop is a hydrologist with the Unitex Corporation, 4568 Highland Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah 84117. William L. Jackson is a hydrologist with the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of the Interior, Denver, Colorado 80225. Funding for field data collection was provided under U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Contract Number YA553-CTI-1064. Gordon Bentley provided project review. Jay Nethercott assisted in data collection. Zahra Paydar helped with data analysis.
Copyright 1984 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society

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