Tooele Valley Public Infrastructure District Reverse Osmosis Water Treatment Plant
Background
In June 2026, the Utah Division of Water Quality (DWQ) issued a DRAFT Utah Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit for the Tooele Valley Public Infrastructure District Reverse Osmosis Water Treatment Plant. This treatment plant is the potable water infrastructure for a proposed 243-acre multi-facility industrial project organized by the Utah Inland Port Authority.
The project will encompass warehouse distribution centers, data centers, light manufacturing, and commercial facilities and will be directly adjacent to Great Salt Lake Class 5E transitional waters.
The treatment plant will pump brackish groundwater from the Tooele Valley aquifer, treat it through reverse osmosis, and discharge up to 260,000 gallons of concentrated reject brine per day into a drainage channel that flows to the transitional waters and ultimately to Gilbert Bay.
Operations are expected to commence in January 2027.
Without the potable water supply provided by this reverse osmosis plant, this Inland Port development cannot proceed.
Therefore, this permit is not simply an authorization to discharge reject brine, it is the regulatory gateway to the entire development, and DWQ must evaluate it in that context.
FRIENDS submitted a formal comment about the draft permit on June 25, 2026.
Key points from our comments:
- The Antidegradation analysis fails to account for the cumulative impacts of the Inland Port development (stormwater runoff, sanitary wastewater, groundwater drawdown impacts to wetlands).
- Written analysis is needed to ensure downstream uses are protected (waterfowl, shorebirds, and their food chains).
- The draft monitoring framework is not adequate to provide DWQ with the information it will need to administer this permit effectively.
Promontory Point Class V Landfill Application Denied
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On October 7, 2024, the Utah Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control denied Promontory Point Resources’ (PPR) application to reclassify its landfill from a Class I municipal waste to a Class V commercial facility. The lack of demonstrated need for additional waste management capacity in the state was cited as the primary reason for denial. The decision comes after years of controversy surrounding PPR’s attempts to import out-of-state waste, including potentially hazardous materials like coal ash, to a site mere yards from Great Salt Lake.
FRIENDS applauds this decision, as we have long emphasized the existing abundant landfill capacity in Utah, with over 2,000 years’ worth of Class V landfill capacity in the state, including more than 400 years’ worth within a few hours’ drive of the proposed site.
Along with other environmental advocates, we have consistently argued that the landfill’s proximity to Great Salt Lake poses significant risks to the Lake’s ecosystem due to potential groundwater contamination. Our General Counsel, Rob Dubuc, brought this argument before the Utah Court of Appeals last year.
This decision marks a significant victory for the Lake and underscores the state’s commitment to protecting the Great Salt Lake ecosystem from unnecessary contamination risks.
Thanks to our members who fuel our work defending the Lake.
Image by Fox13
Additional Background on Promontory Point Landfill
Located on the shore of Great Salt Lake, Promontory Point Resources owns and operates the Promontory Point Landfill. The Landfill began construction in 2017 as a Class I Landfill – meaning is can only accept in-state waste. The Landfill is permitting to accept over 380 million tons of Utah’s waste.
In 2018, Promontory Point Resources submitted an application to the Utah Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) for a Class V landfill, in order to accept and dispose of industrial waste from out of state. FRIENDS of Great Salt Lake is concerned with the potential for the Promontory Point Landfill to release of toxic contaminants into Great Salt Lake.
FRIENDS of Great Salt Lake and our partnering organizations: Utah Audubon Council, Utah Airboat Association, Utah Waterfowl Association, Great Salt Lake Alliance, GSL Audubon, Western Resource Advocates, South Shore Wetlands & Wildlife Management, Inc., League of Women Voters of Salt Lake, National Audubon Society, Utah Sierra Club, HEALUtah, Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, Utah Rivers Council, residents and business owners from Box Elder County, and our organizing partners, the Great Salt Lake Institute, Weber State University, and Utah State University hosted three public information meetings to discuss Promontory Point Resources, LLC Landfill and its application with the State Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control for a Class V waste permit -- a permit specifically designed to accept waste from out of state.
A Class V permit would allow the company to receive California Hazardous waste, which that state defines as "waste with a chemical composition or other properties that make it capable of causing illness, death, or some other harm to humans and other life forms." Waste would also include coal ash from throughout the West and Midwest. Coal ash, or as Utah calls it, Coal Combustion Residual, is the byproduct of burning coal to generate electricity. Depending on where the coal is mined, it can contain an array of dangerous toxicants, including arsenic, lead, mercury, antimony, and boron. The landfill would also be able to accept special wastes and small quantity generator hazardous wastes, such as low-level infectious waste, heavy metals, solvents, and a variety of organic compounds like PCBs.
Located on the south west tip of the Promontory Peninsula on the north shore of Great Salt Lake, the landfill operation brings great potential risks to the Great Salt Lake Ecosystem, a Western Hemispheric Shorebird Reserve Network Site for millions of migratory birds, and to the $1.3 billion in revenue that the Lake generates annually to the State of Utah.
You can read more in the Winter 2018 FRIENDS of Great Salt Lake newsletter. Learn about this important issue and its long term implications to Great Salt Lake and all Utahns.
Click the following link to the RDCC website for comments that were submitted on the proposed Class V permit request by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, and the Utah Geological Survey office in the Department of Natural Resources for the latest on the Promontory Point Landfill.
- The full Needs Assessment from Promontory Point LLC
- The Landfill DWR GRAMA documents
- Access the comments submitted to the DEQ
- Promontory Point LLC's request for relocation of two downgradient monitoring wells
- The DEQ consultant's report
- Letter From Carbon County Board of Commissioners.
- Letter from East Carbon's Mayor, Douglas Parsons.
- The GSL White Paper on Promontory Landfill.
- Preserve the Class V Requirements in Utahs Solid and Hazardous Waste Act
- Request for PPR Landfill Permit Termination
- Promontory Point Class I Landfill Permit Modification
- Final FOGSL Surreply
Utah Inland Port
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Tour of Utah's Inland Port - Video
News Coverage
A rail spur is in the works for a Tooele satellite port. Opponents worry about Great Salt Lake.
The project could bisect “endangered” wetlands, connecting with an industrial park that has ties to Sen. Mitt Romney’s son.
Salt Lake Tribune | By Leia Larsen | Nov. 23, 2021, 7:00 a.m. | Updated: 9:37 a.m.
Opinion: The Great Salt Lake will die unless we act soon
We need to realize that our water credit line is overdrawn, and the lake is calling the loan due
Deseret News | By Lynn de Freitas | Nov 12, 2021, 12:03am MST
Utah Inland Port board votes to issue up to $150M in bonds, despite questions about how to pay the debt
Salt Lake City’s board members question the rush to take on the debt, given uncertainty looming over the port’s revenue and ability to repay.
Salt Lake Tribune | By Leia Larsen | Oct. 12, 2021, 7:14 a.m.
Get Involved
West Davis Highway
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On September 29, 2017 the U.S. Department Transportation issued their Record of Decision approving the West Davis Corridor, a highway that spans the western portions of Davis and Weber Counties from Farmington to Clinton, Utah.
FRIENDS of Great Salt Lake was involved in the scoping and comment periods for the project:
Water and Birds in the Arid West: Habitats in Decline
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A brief overview to Audubon's new report on creating a sustainable water future for birds and people in the American West
Water is the most precious resource in the West—for people, birds, and other wildlife. Riparian habitats like the forests and wetlands that line the Colorado River support some of the most abundant and diverse bird communities in the arid West, serving as home to some 400 species. The Colorado River also provides drinking water for more than 36 million people, irrigates 5.5 million acres of farms and ranches, and supports 16 million jobs throughout seven states—with an annual economic impact of $1.4 trillion. But dams, diversions, drought, and water demand are triggering declines in cottonwood-willow forests and other native river habitat. Saline lakes—landlocked saltwater lakes fringed with wetlands found throughout the Intermountain West—are beacons for millions of birds crossing an otherwise arid landscape. However, these lakes are shrinking and in some cases nearly disappearing. In short, precipitous declines in western water quantity and quality are exacting a toll on health, prosperity, and quality of life for rural and urban communities—and putting birds and wildlife at jeopardy.
Water and Birds in the Arid West: Habitats in Decline represents the first comprehensive assessment of the complex and vital relationships that exist among birds, water, and climate change in the region. Our research focused on two of the most imperiled and irreplaceable western ecosystems: 1) the Colorado River Basin; and 2) the West’s network of saline lakes—including the Great Salt Lake and Salton Sea as well as other smaller but vitally important lakes. Audubon science staff collaborated with outside experts in hydrology, water chemistry, and ecotoxicology, as well as ornithology, in an extensive review of the scientific literature on birds, water, and climate change in the region, with a particular focus on eight western states: Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming. In addition, we synthesized regional bird data from a number of sources to assess impacts on birds in the region, and convened avian experts to deepen our shared understanding of the migratory movement of shorebirds and waterbirds among western saline lakes.
Research Objectives:
- Increase our understanding of how the decline of riparian habitat in the Colorado River Basin and at saline lakes is impacting birds
- Assess the status of key western bird species representative of multiple species that depend on riparian and saline lake habitat
- Analyze impacts and threats to these species’ habitat posed by lack of available water and the anticipated effects of climate change
- Provide recommendations for water management policy priorities and practices and future science research
Phragmites
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Phragmites is an invasive weed that is common in Great Salt Lake wetlands. The plant not only sucks up water from Great Salt Lake, but degrades important bird and wildlife habitat. In Utah, great efforts are made to control and manage the spread of this weed. Research teams at the University of Utah have been dedicated to understanding the science of controlling phragmites for the benefit of wildlife habitat on Great Salt Lake. Control options require mowing, cutting, grazing, and/or herbicide applications.
