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SUMMARY o ("") C') , The Great Basin Region' s major water pollution problems are c.o concentrated in three areas--'the Wasatch Front Range, the Central -..l Lahontan" Subregion, and the Sevier River Basin. Within these W three areas virtually every kind of pollution problem can be found. Major problem areas along the Wasatch Front Range are the Jordan River, Utah Lake, Great Salt Lake and Bear River. Residual wastes from a multiplicity of secondary wastewater treatment works overtax the assimilative capacity of the Jordan River as it flows through the metropolitan Salt Lake City area. Pollution of Utah Lake is presenting health hazards that restrict recreational use of the lake. Decreasing inflows containing increasing amounts of pollutants are presenting potential pollution problems for the Great Salt Lake. The quality of the Bear River has been severely reduced from the effects of inadequately treated municipal and industrial effluents. ' Major problem areas in the Central Lahontan Subregion are the Truckee and Carson Rivers, Pyramid and Walker Lakes and La- hontan Reservoir. The Truckee River below the Reno-Sparks area exceeds nutrient standards set by the State of Nevada. TheCar- son River contains excessive nutrients derived from local sources and imports from the Truckee River and Lake Tahoe Basin. Pyramid and Walker Lakes are experiencing rapidly increasing salinity levels due to decreased inflows and declining water levels. High levels of nutrients derived principally from irrigation return flows are creating water quality problems in Walker Lake. Pyramid Lake is faced with similar problems of nuisance algal growths from the inflow of the nutrient-rich Truckee River. Excessive aquatic plant growths due to a high nutrient content are also found in Lahontan Reservoir. The primary water quality problem in the Sevier River Basin is the increasing salinity of basin streams, the terminal Sevier Lake and ground water reservoirs. Salinity is an ever-increasing major water quality problem in other areas of the Region too. Sa~t loading principally results from salts contributed from dif- fused and point sources of geologic origin and from salts carried in irrigation return flows. Intensive use and reuse concentrate the salt load in smaller volumes of water. Increases in salinity have direct adverse impacts on users which will increase with con- tinued development of the Region. Lake problems. Tahoe continues to have potential nutrient and turbidity Most of the nutrients are believed to be transported "" - ~ -