Utah County, UT Environmental Rules: Stormwater Management (2026)

19, adopted by Ordinance 2023-921 and amended by Ordinance 2025-247, implements the Utah Water Quality Act (Utah Code Chapter 19-5) for stormwater in unincorporated Utah County. 020 requires a land disturbance permit for any activity disturbing one acre or more, for smaller sites that are part of a larger common plan of development totaling an acre or more, for borrow pits, for processing topsoil or gravel, and for any smaller site the County Engineer decides poses a unique threat to water quality or public safety.

No building permit can issue until the land disturbance permit is approved, and the land disturbance permit takes the place of the county's grading permit. Applications must include the owner's and contractor's names and addresses, a legal description and tax serial number for the property, a work schedule, and, where required, a stormwater pollution prevention plan with an erosion and sediment control plan and proof of the state UPDES construction permit. Property owners may not alter drainage channels, waterways, or irrigation ditches and canals without approval from the affected irrigation company or governing agency, and redirecting runoff across county or municipal boundaries requires written approval from the receiving jurisdiction.

The County Engineer must respond in writing within 14 calendar days with an approval, a conditioned approval, or a denial stating reasons, and an approved permit expires if substantial work has not started within 180 calendar days. Emergency work, existing farm operations under an approved conservation plan, additions to single-family homes, and minor residential landscaping are exempt.