[#0000FF]I received this notice from the Utah Lake Commission yesterday. In checking with the sender I was told that the meeting is open to the public...and that those who wish to speak or ask questions will be allowed to do so.
[/#0000FF]
We will be holding a special governing board meeting this next Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. at the State park visitors center. The goal of the meeting is to discuss the Algae Bloom on Utah Lake. As part of the meeting we will have a presentation by the Utah Division of Water Quality, they have been heading up the monitoring and testing of water samples in partnership with Utah County Health Department and many other agencies.
We will also discuss some potential treatment options that have been vetted over the last couple days. With many downstream water users, agriculture, livestock, etc. being affected by the lake closure, consideration of an algae treatment may be a needed way to expedite the all clear and get water back to these users.
We hope you can attend.
Sincerely,
Eric J. Ellis
Executive Director
UTAH LAKE COMMISSION
801-851-2900 o
801-836-1963 c
[url "mailto:eric@utahlakecommission.org"]eric@utahlakecommission.org[/url]
[url "http://www.utahlake.gov/"]www.utahlake.gov[/url]
[signature]
That should be interesting. Hope there is a solution.
[signature]
Thanks Pat, I had not heard about this meeting. I will make a point of being there.
[signature]
At this point the only short term solution would be to put more fresh water in there. Which means draining deer creek and jordanelle some. Who knows if they are willing to do that.
Long term, it's more about what kind of waste, chemicals, fertilizers are allowed in to the lake. A little bit more complicated and will involve many people and industries.
I have another theory that I have not heard here concerning water levels in Utah Lake. Last year they built up the Willard Bay dike. To me, based on current water levels compare to the last few years, they've made an effort to fill Willard. That means they have released less water into the salt lake. To make up for the lack of water coming out of Willard, they have drained a little bit more from Utah Lake into the salt lake. That's why we see lower water levels there even though we had a decent water year.
Just speculation on my part.
[signature]
[#0000FF]Willard and the level of Salt Lake have nothing to do with the current state of Utah Lake. The problem lies upstream of Utah Lake...not downstream.
Before Jordanelle was opened in the early 1990s, Deer Creek filled and spilled almost every year...even in some fairly low snowfall years. And Utah Lake was always full in the spring and only a few feet down even after the driest summers.
In a "normal" year, there is enough water to fill both Deer Creek and Jordanelle, with enough left over to maintain Utah Lake at a reasonable level. The past three or four years, Utah Lake has kept getting lower and lower...as has Jordanelle. This year the water wizards elected to fill Jordanelle and let Utah Lake fend for itself. So right now Jordanelle is the highest it has been in 4 years and Utah Lake is at a historic low level. The water in Jordanelle would go a long way toward solving the Utah Lake problem.
Utah Lake is shallow in the best of times. And it gets increasing large amounts of "runoff" and waste water from the growning population of Utah Valley. But it is normally flushed out each year by large volumes of fresh water from the annual snowpack. So the lake has still managed to hang in there in spite of all the abuse.
This year it started out lower than it was last fall. And only a small amount of runoff was allowed to run downhill into the lake. But even before the lake could show any kind of a rise they opened the gates at the Jordan River and water began pouring out much faster than it was allowed to come in. Instead of a good annual flushing and a rapid rise in water levels it was in drain mode before it ever rose at all.
The waste water (treated or not) kept pouring in and the excessive amounts of phosphates, nitrates and other nutrients kept building to feed the algae. The proportions of nutrients to fresh water got to be vastly greater than the lake had ever experienced before. Add some high summer heat and ALGAE BLOOM.
Sadly, the solution at this point is not merely to pour more fresh water into the lake. The time for that was in April and May. And Jordanelle is not likely to give up precious water needed by the recreationists who are paying for the new aquatic park.
What is the solution? From past experience with smaller bodies of water and community lake maintenance I would think chemistry. There are algaecides that can halt and knock out heavy algae blooms. Two problems...cost and ecological hazards. Some of that stuff can kill fish (Junies), and it is expensive. Neither factor is likely to be popular with the powers that be.
I am definitely interested in what is to be discussed at the meeting. Likely to need my box of Kleenex. I cry at funerals for old friends.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]
What Pat has said !! I drove over the Jordan today several times, in several places and it was FULL !! So, the pumps have to be running full force, even though the lake is so low. Down stream water users have need of their water, so it is not surprising, but how much is running into the lake from the Provo and Spanish Fork rivers ( AF does not contribute much other than in the Spring ). I for one plan on being there on Wednesday to listen to the excuses/explanations !!
I will try to make it to the meeting also.
[signature]
My only prediction about the meeting is the one thing we will NOT hear:
"We screwed up."
[signature]
[#0000FF]Never put off until tomorrow what you can con someone else into doing today.
Never take the blame for something you can shift to someone else.
I really do wonder if someone "at the top" has followed the chain of blunders to the person(s) most at fault. Trump would never stand for that. Hillary might form a committee to study on it...and then grant amnesty.
Unpaid (as usual) political announcement.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]
It's Gores fault, but he'll blame bush.
[signature]
[#0000FF]...or the Internet causing global warming.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]
Hey Pat. I remember reading some article many years ago that Utah Lake had some kind of water rights that was going to come from strawberry. There was some kind of agreement done many many years ago, do you know anything about this ??
This is real bad, how could the state let such a great resource like Ut. Lake get to this. I guess it comes down to, someone didn't do their job.
I feel for you guys.
[signature]
[quote utwalleye]
I remember reading some article many years ago that Utah Lake had some kind of water rights that was going to come from strawberry.
[/quote]
Strawberry appears to have enough water this year that they could easily share some with Utah Lake. I was wondering why the subject hadn't come up before.
[signature]
How would the water get from Strawberry to Utah Lake? Is there pipe line? Or are there plans to build one? Isn't that 2 different drainages or am I thinking a different Strawberry.
[signature]
[quote BagABigOne]
How would the water get from Strawberry to Utah Lake? Is there pipe line?
[/quote]
Yes there is and has always been one since the reservoir was built. Nearly all of the water in Diamond Fork (up Spanish Fork Canyon) comes from a tunnel from Strawberry (called the East Portal). Water flows east through the dam and west through the tunnel.
[signature]
[quote utwalleye]Hey Pat. I remember reading some article many years ago that Utah Lake had some kind of water rights that was going to come from strawberry. There was some kind of agreement done many many years ago, do you know anything about this ??
This is real bad, how could the state let such a great resource like Ut. Lake get to this. I guess it comes down to, someone didn't do their job.
I feel for you guys.[/quote]
[#0000ff]Most of the water from Strawberry flows into Starvation and then downstream to the Green and Colorado River. But, as has been mentioned, there is the pipeline to Diamond Fork...which feeds into the Spanish Fork River.
As I see it, the problem is a combination of several bad water years in a row and poor planning and anticipation.
The current set of circumstances has never occurred before so nobody thought it could happen. But now that it has they have 20-20 hindsight. We can only hope it serves to make them more careful in the future...and that they take steps to reduce the factors that led to it.
Within a few weeks we will have feedback on any actual fish kills...or the levels of toxins in the fish that make them inedible for humans.
[/#0000ff]
[signature]
Thanks for explaining that for me Kent. I knew I had read something
About it. I wonder if that would ever happen.
[signature]
Thanks for the info, I learned something today. Guess I'm not dead yet.
[signature]
Thanks for the link. Interesting read.
[signature]