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General Description
The Dirty Devil River Unit is located in Emery and Wayne Counties in southern Utah. The study area included the Muddy Creek, the Fremont and Dirty Devil Rivers, and the tributaries of Muddy Creek, Hanksville Salt Wash, and Emery South Salt Wash. The Dirty Devil River drainage contributes approximately 150,000 tons of salt each year to the Colorado River. The Muddy Creek tributary contributes an average of 86,000 tons of salt annually. No significant sources of salt or potential alternatives were identified on the Fremont River or its tributaries. Approximately,
28 percent of the Muddy Creek salt load (24,200 tons per year) comes from springs in Hanksville Salt Wash and Emery South Salt Wash.
The geologic formations in the area consist primarily of sedimentary deposits, about 60 percent of which are mudstones, claystones, and shales. The Carmel Formation of Jurassic age and the Mancos Shale Formations of Cretaceous age are major contributors of dissolved solids. Irrigation of alluvial soils derived from shales increases the contribution of dissolved solids to the streams.
Reclamation's plan was designed to reduce the salinity of the Dirty Devil and Colorado Rivers by collecting saline spring water in Hanksville Salt Wash and Emery South Salt Wash and disposing of it by deep well injection. Collection would be accomplished by pumping surface and alluvial water from shallow wells. This water would be filtered and chemically stabilized after which it would be injected into a deeply buried geologic formation, the Coconino Sandstone, where it would be stored indefinitely and isolated from any freshwater aquifer now in use. This means of disposal would reduce the salt contribution to the Colorado River by 20,900 tons annually. Reclamation completed a planning report in May 1987. The unit has not been implemented due to its marginal cost effectiveness.
See other Basinwide Salinity Control Projects. |
