ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

Sewage and Water Quality

Flood Control

Solid Waste

Jordan River Parkway

Air Pollution

Geological Hazards

Wastewater Treatment and Water Quality

Water Supply in Salt Lake County

Salt Lake Canyons Master Plan

Population Policy

Statement of Position: SEWAGE AND WATER QUALITY

The League of Women Voters believes that the Salt Lake area sewage treatment facilities which empty into the Jordan River are inadequate. We urge that the sewage treatment system be upgraded to protect the health and ecology of our community. To this end, the LWV supports achievement of economical and coordinated sewage treatment through a regional management agency. We support one single treatment plant phasing out existing plants emptying into the Jordan River, provided that a single plant continues to be the most economical proposal to achieve adequate treatment.

We urge coordination and consolidation of water supply and distribution for the Salt Lake area.

Original position 1953, updated February 1965, January 1977, February 1965, January 1977

Statement of Position: FLOOD CONTROL

The members of the League of Women Voters of Salt Lake City believe that present flood control measures being used to protect the valley are not adequate nor is the best possible use being made of the money spent.

The League also feels that the present flood control plans do not fall within the stated positions of our total water use concept.

A more effective program should contain:

1. Better long-range planning. This should include consideration of the inter-related aspects of (a) the Master Plans, (b) zoning, (c) building codes, (d) construction of reservoirs for both flood control and conservation, (e) future development of the valley, (f) financing at all levels of government, (g) effects on the underground water table, (h) pollution of water supplies, (i) recreation, and (j) aesthetics.

2. Stricter enforcement of existing ordinances.
3. A competent, professional county staff to deal with technical problems and empowered with adequate authority to implement such a program.
4. A qualified State Flood Control Director with powers to override local officials in time of emergency.

April 1968

Statement of Position: SOLID WASTE

The League of Women Voters of Salt Lake supports public control of collection, separation and recycling of solid waste.

April 1972

Statement of Position: JORDAN RIVER PARKWAY

The League of Women Voters of Salt Lake supports the Jordan River Parkway concept. We urge

• Acquisition of Jordan River flood plain lands.

• Cessation of dredging river channel, allowing the river to reform its bank in accordance with nature.
• Increased efforts to clean up river pollution.
• Increased efforts to clean up river bank pollution.

April 1972


Statement of Position: AIR POLLUTION

The members of the League of Women Voters of Salt Lake agree that objective evidence of air pollution in the Salt Lake area justifies immediate and vigorous abatement activities. An abatement program should attempt to balance considerations of health, economics and aesthetics. An effective air pollution control program requires the cooperation of all three levels of government.

The means of implementing such a program should include the following:

• The existing air sampling program should be expanded in the Salt Lake area.
• Air monitoring should continue to be the responsibility of a state agency in cooperation with the federal government.
• Enforcement should be at the local level of government in compliance with standards set at the state or local level.
• Local ordinances should be clarified and enforcement provisions should be enforced. Such ordinances should be enacted where lacking. Local government studies of alternate methods of refuse disposal should be continued.
• Appropriate local agency or agencies should apply for available federal funds through the Clean Air Act.
• In the absence of a state agency empowered to take emergency action in the event of an acute air pollution episode, a local agency should be given this authority.
• The members of the Salt Lake League recommend the following state action:
• State legislation should be enacted now which would require that standards of air quality be adopted. This legislation would delegate the determining of such standards to a qualified technical agency.
• In view of the fact that federal law will require auto exhaust control devices on new cars beginning in 1968, new state legislation should (a) prohibit rendering inoperative these devices after sale, and (b) require periodic inspection of these devices.

April 1966



Statement of Position: GEOLOGICAL HAZARDS

The League of Women Voters of Salt Lake believes that:

• The legislature should mandate comprehensive mapping of geographical hazards statewide.
• The legislature should mandate written disclosure of the availability of geological hazard information to prospective property buyers.

January 1984

Statement of Position: WASTEWATER TREATMENT AND WATER QUALITY

The League of Women Voters of Salt Lake believes that water quality standards for the Jordan River should be maintained to protect current and planned recreational use. Sewage treatment should be upgraded in order to maintain those standards and prevent the deterioration of water quality in the face of anticipated population growth.

The Salt Lake League further believes that all local sewage treatment entities should base their service rates on the amount of indoor water use in order to be equitable and to encourage conservation.

We believe that wastewater treatment plant construction costs may require support from the state of Utah to supplement local and federal funding.

January 1983


Statement of Position: WATER SUPPLY IN SALT LAKE COUNTY

The League of Women Voters of Salt Lake believes the demand for water should be managed as one means of insuring future local water supply. We support price structure adjustments such as inverted block rates and flexible rates based on seasonal demands and elevation, but oppose higher water rates to new connections. We support restrictions on days and times of outdoor water use during periods of limited supply. We reaffirm our support of measures to coordinate management of local water supplies.

September 1982

Statement of Position: SALT LAKE CANYONS MASTERPLAN

The League of Women Voters of Salt Lake has long supported mass transit and this support applies to vehicular traffic in the Cottonwood Canyons. An increase in mass transit alternatives, especially at rush times and in summer, is needed. We support incentives to encourage car pooling and park and ride, including parking fees at ski areas, vehicle tolls at canyon entrances, and annual parking fees, with fee revenues to be used to improve mass transit.

We believe that because of traffic problems and the need to protect natural amenities for future generations, man-made ski facilities should not expand at the present time beyond U.S. Forest Service boundaries. Alpine skiing operations should not be extended into White Pine Canyon in Little Cottonwood Canyon, and we believe a chair lift system connecting Park City with the Cottonwood Canyons would not be practical or safe.

Siting of the Olympic Games in Salt Lake should be conditional on limiting the number of permanent structures in the canyons and holding no events in the Cottonwood Canyons. At this time we remain concerned about profitability of the Games and costs to taxpayers.

We approve of fees for canyon use, particularly fees for group picnics and overnight or car camping.

The League of Women Voters of Salt Lake supports a formal, diverse group to coordinate canyon policies in the interests of all affected government and non-government entities.

January 1989

Statement of Position: POPULATION POLICY

The League of Women Voters of Salt Lake recognizes that the rapid expansion of the human population has negative consequences on the health and welfare of the people of the world and is rapidly destroying the biosphere. The League of Women Voters of Salt Lake supports the development and implementation of a national population policy which has as its goal a stable and sustainable human population.

History

The League of Women Voters of Salt Lake has become increasingly aware that population growth is an element in many of the issues the League has studied in recent years. Here in the Salt Lake Valley League members live with the the deleterious effects of a rapidly growing population coupled with a high level of resource consumption. We observe a high indigenous birthrate and frequently robust in-migration. We now experience urban sprawl and air pollution and have expectations of future water scarcity. Therefore, the League studied population trends and biosphere degradation in the spring of 2002.

League members concluded that the United States should have a population policy that considers the number of people that can be sustained without damage to the environment of the nation and the rest of the world. To develop this policy the Salt Lake League members considered the following topics and believe they should be included in a national dialogue.

-impact of different consumptive lifestyles on the earth’s living systems.
-balance between a desirable number of people with an acceptable standard of living
-consequences of a limited water supply
-limits for contaminants of air, soil, and water that can be recycled by the biosphere
-differences in sustainability among ecosystems including those of urban areas
-support for the equal status, education, and autonomy of women within all world cultures

Population Policy

A population policy should include (but is not limited to)
* The best estimate of what a sustainable human population is
* Support of individual determination and responsibility
* Social justice (including an expectation for survival of children and security in old age)
* World wide availability of health care with emphasis on reproductive and pediatric health
* Education about the social and environmental consequences of individual decisions about family size
* Elimination of taxation policies and other policies that undermine attainment of sustainable population and consumption
* Support for programs which achieve these goals in other nations

November 2002