Civil Engineering in Provo, Utah.
We work with developers, architects, and landowners on civil engineering for Provo land development, from student housing and campus-adjacent multifamily to commercial redevelopment and parcels on the flat ground toward Utah Lake.
Licensed Professional Engineer in Utah. The engineer designing your Provo project is the same engineer answering your call.
(612) 567-2154 →How stormwater is regulated in Provo.
Provo publishes a hard discharge number and a specific exemption. Whether your project type falls inside or outside that exemption changes the site plan completely.
The base criteria is that storm drains, minor ditches, and detention and retention facilities control the 10-year design storm. That is a lower design event than the 100-year standard used in much of the Midwest, and it changes how basins are sized.
Development other than single-family residential and public streets has to detain 10-year flows onsite at a maximum discharge of 0.2 cfs per acre. That is a restrictive release rate, and the detention volume falls straight out of it.
Single-family residential development and public streets may discharge flows to downstream storm drain facilities un-detained. Which side of that line a project sits on is one of the first things to establish, because it decides whether a basin is needed at all.
Who reviews a Provo project.
Public Works carries the engineering review, coordinated with the planning and development departments on the entitlement side.
Coordination and design review for private development, working with other Provo departments and Public Works divisions. Review runs against the Public Works Development Design Standards and the Storm Drainage System Design and Management Manual.
Site plan, zoning, subdivision, and building permit review, including the code provisions covering high water table and wetland area development.
Zoning and subdivision review outside city jurisdiction, plus county road access at the city edge.
Construction stormwater coverage under UTRC00000 or the Common Plan Permit, filed through NeT CGP, with annual renewal and a Notice of Termination at final stabilization.
Access and drainage permits on I-15, University Parkway, and the state highway system.
Liquefaction investigation where the land use and liquefaction potential matrix calls for one. The valley floor toward Utah Lake is exactly the ground where that applies.
What is different about engineering in Provo.
A hard release rate, a shallow water table, and a lake at the bottom of the valley. Those three set most of what a Provo design has to solve.
- •0.2 cfs per acre is a tight number. For comparison, plenty of cities allow five times that. At 0.2 cfs per acre the detention volume is large and the outlet is small, which means orifice sizing, clogging risk, and maintenance access all become real design questions rather than details.
- •The exemption is worth confirming first. Single-family residential and public streets can discharge un-detained. Everything else detains. Establishing which category a mixed project falls into, before the layout, avoids designing a basin you did not need or omitting one you did.
- •Detention ponds have a minimum bottom slope. Two percent across the bottom, unless a flatter slope with a low flow channel or soil amendments to promote infiltration is approved by the Public Works Director. On a flat site that requirement drives basin depth and therefore the outlet elevation.
- •High water table and wetland standards. The city code carries specific development standards for high water table and wetland areas. On the flat ground toward Utah Lake these are commonly in play and they affect basement feasibility, utility burial, and whether infiltration is available at all.
- •Everything ends in the Provo River or Utah Lake. Runoff collected by street inlets and the storm drain system discharges to the Provo River or Utah Lake. Those receiving waters are the reason the water quality expectations sit where they do.
What we work on in Provo.
Tight-site grading, parking, and detention sized against the 0.2 cfs per acre cap where the exemption does not apply.
Site layout, access, grading, and treatment on infill parcels where a conventional basin has to fit somewhere it barely does.
Plat layout and grading, with the single-family discharge exemption confirmed in writing before the drainage design is set.
High water table and wetland area standards, minimum elevations, utility burial, and outlet design where infiltration is not available.
Common questions about civil engineering in Provo.
What is Provo's maximum stormwater discharge rate?
Development other than single-family residential and public streets must detain 10-year flows onsite with a maximum discharge of 0.2 cfs per acre. That is a restrictive rate, and the detention volume comes directly out of it. Orifice sizing, clogging risk, and maintenance access all become live design issues at that release rate.
Does my project need detention at all?
It depends on the type. Single-family residential development and public streets may discharge flows to downstream storm drain facilities un-detained. All other development types have to detain. On a mixed project it is worth establishing the classification with Public Works before the layout is fixed, because it changes whether a basin is needed.
What design storm does Provo use?
The base criteria is that storm drains, minor ditches, detention and retention facilities control the 10-year design storm. That is a lower design event than the 100-year standard common in other states, so basins sized elsewhere do not transfer directly.
Are there rules about detention pond shape?
Yes. The minimum bottom slope for a detention pond is 2 percent, unless a flatter slope with a low flow channel or soil amendments to promote infiltration is approved by the Public Works Director or their designee. On flat ground that requirement drives basin depth and the outlet elevation.
My site is near Utah Lake. What changes?
The city code carries specific high water table and wetland area development standards, and those commonly apply on the flat ground toward the lake. Practically it affects minimum elevations, basement feasibility, utility burial depths, and whether infiltration-based treatment is available on the parcel at all. That gets checked before design, not during it.
Are you licensed in Utah?
Yes. Paul Wallick is a licensed Professional Engineer in Utah, along with Minnesota, Colorado, and North Dakota. Drawings submitted in Utah have to be sealed by an engineer licensed in the state.
Working on a Provo project?
Tell us about the site. You will get a same-business-day response from Paul, with a real read on the civil scope, the regulatory path, and the likely permitting timeline.