“Water Quality” is a term used to describe the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water, usually in respect to its suitability for a particular purpose. Although scientific measurements are used to define a water's quality, it's not a simple thing to say that "this water is good," or "this water is bad." After all, water that is good enough for one thing may not be suitable for another.

Whose Job is it?

In the intermountain west, we have traditionally had some of the best and safest water in the country. However, in an area that is growing as fast as ours, there is nothing simple about keeping it that way. It takes a tremendous amount of work to ensure this. At all levels of government, industry and community, people are working full-time to protect our water supplies, from passing laws, setting regulatory standards and monitoring, to making improvements along our waterways, fields, treatment facilities and delivery systems.

Who pays for it?

All of this costs money. Yes, the government and industry finance it, but ultimately we all do, either in taxes or price of goods. Also, our way of life in the west depends on good clean water.

Pollution isn't always something that is in the water. It can be a state or physical condition as well as biological or chemical. The Bear River the main concerns are:

POINT SOURCE a. Point source contamination can be traced to specific points of discharge such as wastewater treatment plants, industry, or livestock feeding operations. b. http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/

NON-POINT SOURCE a. Non point source (NPS) pollution, unlike pollution from industrial and sewage treatment plants, comes from many diffuse sources. NPS pollution is caused by rainfall or snowmelt moving over and through the ground. As the runoff moves, it picks up and carries away natural and human-made pollutants, finally depositing them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, and even underground sources of drinking water.

NATURAL BACKGROUND a. The nature of the soil type, topography or shape of the land, climate and the flow of water all effect water quality

FLOW REGIME CHANGES