Director, Division of Water Quality
Utah Department of Environmental Quality
Bio:
John is a registered civil engineer working for the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, Division of Water Quality since 2007. He became Director of the division in July of 2022. Prior to joining DEQ, John worked 22 years as an engineering consultant to heavy industry, municipal utilities and several developing nations. He earned bachelor and masters engineering degrees in the previous century and maintains several professional memberships. Germaine Fact: John’s second favorite project ever was working for the Orange County Water District Water Factory 21—one of the most integrated water systems in the world— in the 1990s to develop their first wellhead biological denitrification treatment system.
Title: Protecting the Lake: Traditional and Future Mineral Extraction
Abstract: The Department of Environmental Quality has traditionally protected Great Salt Lake (GSL) with a much more limited number of regulatory tools than are available for other waterbodies in the state. The uniqueness of the Lake's water quality, its biota and beneficial uses posed unique challenges to establishing standards and permit limits. The Lake's great size enabled robust capacity to attenuate human influences for more than a century. Toward better understanding our potential to impact the Lake's biota, the Department engaged and cooperated in much of the research that is now the foundational knowledge base for this ecosystem. Today, the Department is required to approve GSL mineral extraction discharges in two new ways: 1) no negative impact to the Lake's water chemistry and biota resulting from certain discharges, and 2) through a newly to-be established limit of salinity. Implemented and enforced through our CWA-derived discharge permit program, these requirements are a unique opportunity to build water quality safeguards for the ecosystem, promote technology innovation and provide greater regulatory certainty to industry.
Title: Reuse Abstract
Abstract: The Department of Environmental Quality has regulatory and nonregulatory involvement in most aspects of water reuse including wastewater reuse, indirect potable reuse, aquifer protection, direct potable reuse, and stormwater reuse. Much of this involvement comes through permitting programs that approve and oversee engineering and other technical standards for reuse infrastructure construction, implementation, and lifelong performance. Historically, most wastewater reuse projects were implemented for water quality protection purposes as few penciled out as water resource projects. That picture is changing today, as the need for integrated water resource management is no longer just a glimmer in the eyes of planners but stares us straight in the face. With this new paradigm comes new challenges and opportunities to work together toward a prosperous and healthy Utah.