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I was down to UL last evening, as I was 3-4 days earlier. However last evening the water appeared to be 6+ inches lower than just a few days early. there was an obvious ring of freshly exposed moss on the rocks all around the marina I was at, along with an exposed tire that was just under the water just days before.
It is as if somebody pulled the plug in a bathtub. We did get one nice size cat in the trip though.
Any thoughts on the sudden water drop?
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I was told that they are keeping deer creek and Jordanelle full which is causing less water to flow into Utah lake
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I saw more water coming down the provo last night than I have seen in a month, So maybe it will stabilize but I DOUBT IT!!, irrigation is suppose to be taking all this water? The Salt Lake valley has very little agriculture any more so I call BS. Now the place above camp Williams is suppose to be using a ton of water for cooling could that be it? [fishon]
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I think one of our legislators wants more water for his sailboat on the Great Salt Lake.
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[#0000FF]Jordanelle is at its highest point in three years. Utah Lake is at its lowest. Hmmmm?
Two factors at work here. State Parks has a new water recreation area at Jordanelle they want to use to attract new useage. State Parks at Utah Lake is trying to get the water even lower before they do their fall dredging of the harbor.
Bottom line? Lots of boats that would normally launch at Utah Lake are forced to go to Deer Creek or Jordanelle. However, there are a lot of businesses along Center Street in Provo and in other towns near Utah Lake that are experiencing a big downturn in business this year.
There has been a big problem with toxic algae bloom in late summer the past two years. It is likely to really be bad this year. Maybe unto the point of major fish kill and hazard to the public. About the only species that could survive it all might be carp. That's what happened in the 1930s...when the lake averaged only 1 foot deep. Bye Bye to the last cutthroat and most of the other species. Hello to the carp explosion with which we are still dealing today.
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Won't it kill the June Sucker as well?
It seems like the recovery team should be raising a stink about this. I saw a graph the other day that showed Utah Lake water levels for the last 20 years.
It generally falls about 3 feet from peak in spring/summer to the low point in Sept/Oct. However, if the peak occurs early, the drop is usually larger.
We could see a real disaster this year because the "peak" was really early.
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[#0000FF]The math is not good for Utah Lake.
Since Deer Creek outflow goes toward that used by homes...for drinking, irrigating, pools, etc....the need and diversions are likely to be greater during the heat of summer. So...more water out of Deer Creek but less for Utah Lake.
The way they treat the Junies we might see trucks delivering bottled water to them. Suckers are less hardy than carp so they DO require cooler and cleaner water. Not going to be much of that by October.
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Caught a cat today wearing a hydration pack today and had some carp jerkey. Things are sure getting tough for our cat buddies!
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Doesn't that NSA facility take lots of water for cooling its servers?
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Much of the water has been kept in the reservoirs up Provo Canyon as water storage.
There are a few canal companies down the Jordan River that have water rights that have to be fulfilled.
I think there was some hope when this last winter provided a decent amount of snow compared to the last couple years, but overall it wasn't enough to solve the problem. We'll need to have a couple more consecutive good years.
Because of the lack of snowfall over the last few years, the dry ground absorbed more water than usual during the spring runoff, which reduced the amount of water that made it to the lake.
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As I stated before there is more water making it to the lake right now but I doubt it is enough to have any effect except to stabilize the level a little, But the gragh on utah lake is showing rising water again( Picture Attached).
This is outflow from deer creek:
07/13/2016 08:00 687.74 cfs
Outflow from Jordonell:
07/13/2016 08:00 320.82 cfs
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Frozen Gatoraid pops
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Any time more water is removed from a lake than comes in, the lake level will fall - duhh, goes without saying. What I'd like to know is where, exactly, the water being pumped from U.L. is being used. I cross both the Jordan River and the "overflow" canal out by the airport several times every week and it seems like there's a lot of water still flowing out the "overflow" . I've looked closely at Google Earth searching for diversion structures and irrigated areas north of I 80 and don't really see much. If much Jordan River water is going into the Great Salt Lake, I wanna scream like a mashed cat about it. Can anyone on this board shed some light on this?
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