This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
It doesn't compare with Flint, Mich., but the LDS Church brought out its big guns recently to resist the state's proposal to increase the frequency of water sampling at Scout camps and similar places.
At a Jan. 20 public hearing of the Utah Division of Drinking Water, officials of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its law firm, Kirton McConkie, said the rule change would cost the Salt Lake City-based faith an additional $40,000 a year and wouldn't reduce the risk of contamination.
The division has recommended that required sampling of water systems be taken monthly instead of quarterly to better check for E. coli and other disease-causing contaminants.
Division officials say the water testing costs $10 per sample.
Currently, "transient systems" such as camps, church buildings and other places that don't serve year-round residents are required to test samples quarterly.
Officials say that has led in the past to E. coli going undetected and causing diseases. They cite two examples in which undetected E. coli at Scout camps caused about 100 illnesses at one camp and more than 70 at another.
Roy McDaniel, a drinking-water manager for the LDS Church, counters that the Ben Lomond and Shawnee camps had experienced heavy rains that created false samples in the nearby springs. He says a monthly sampling would not have changed the result.
Ryan White, a compliance manager for the church, maintains the rule change wouldn't make much difference because seasonal sites already require monthly tests.
State officials, however, say many of the church's sites are classified as year-round, so the rule change would affect them.
Chris Bramhall, an attorney with Kirton McConkie, says the church has 34 sites that consist of meetinghouses and eight year-round camps that would be impacted, adding that the risk-reduction benefit does not match the extra cost.
A handful of other private water systems also have raised objections to the rule change.
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Pick your poison? • The LDS Church recently announced its opposition to proposed legislation to allow medical marijuana as a treatment option for certain maladies, citing concerns that it might be a slippery slope to more serious drug use.
The church has been relatively silent about the dangers of opioid painkillers, which in 2014 killed 289 Utahns due to overdose, up from 274 in 2013, according to the Utah Department of Health.
That seems to be the other side of the medical-marijuana debate — whether allowing that option could possibly reduce the dependence on highly addictive opioids.
In fact, the number of Utahns dying from prescription painkiller overdoses has risen steadily since legislative funding for a statewide prevention effort expired in 2010.
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Employee-fitness program • Workers at Snowbird's Cliff Lodge recently received an email from management that they were not to use the elevators during peak hours (3 to 6 p.m.) but to take the stairs. One of the elevators was broken so the operable lift should be used only by customers.
No big deal, right? It's only 10 flights of stairs to the top and the employees could get adept at balancing service trays while making that vertical hike.