Sediment source study Little Cottonwood, Bit Cottonwood and Mill Creeks, Salt Lake County, Utah (RI-189)

G. E. Christenson

Flood control management in Salt Lake County for the past ten to twenty years has emphasized expensive dredging to maintain stream channel capacity. The result has been degradation of recreational and aquatic conditions in valley tributaries draining into the Jordan River, together with rising costs to maintain channel capacity in light of recent floods..

The purpose of the present joint inquiry by Salt Lake County and the Utah Geological and Mineral Survey has been to estimate the relative sources of major sediment loads to the Jordan River from Big Cottonwood, Little Cottonwood, and Mill Creeks. The typical short-term sediment loads from canyons have been a major concern. The atypical flood sediment loads from both canyon and valley stream reaches are also a concern, but existing data have limited our trend analyses to more average or typical hydrologic events.

Other Information:
Published: 1984
Pages: 22 p.
Location: Salt Lake County
Media Type: Paper Publication