Although not new, this idea is worth keeping in mind.
Both Utah Lake and the Great Salt Lake have their problems: Utah’s lack of water quality, and the GSL’s dearth of water quantity. Here’s one idea to help them both, among many other ideas.
The crux of this proposal would be to simply drain Utah Lake. In doing so, the water quality eutrophication issues in Utah Lake would go away, as there would be little water left to eutrophy. The incoming streams should be channelized directly to the outlet at the Jordan River. In doing so, the quantity of water, through evaporation off the lake, would not be lost, and the GSL would get more fresh water to further dilute its saltiness, increase its depth, and help bring back its ecosystem.
If there had to be residential development, the state might consider allowing limited development along the banks of the resulting streams. The state would also save huge sums of money not having to build long bridges connecting the multiple islands, as previously proposed, and everyone would save the huge costs to dredge bottom muck up and hope the resulting morass would be stable enough to physically support structures on the islands. The needed development roads could be constructed at grade, on pre-dried, stable lake bottom, with only a few short bridges needed across the outlet streams.
Provisions to provide the surrounding irrigators with adequate water sources, while further regulating their water and nutrient discharges to the streams, would have to be made. Also, the state could use some of that saved bridge money to require the contributing sewage facilities to improve their treatment, to further reduce their nutrient discharges to the streams.
All in all, everyone wins, what’s there not to like?
John Kennington, Cottonwood Heights
