OCR Text |
Show Expert tells board water quality in Farmington Bay must not be neglected By JOHN W. CANNON SALT LAKE CITY - At a recent meeting of the Great Salt Lake De-velopement De-velopement Authority, Louis Cooper Coop-er of the Davis County Environmental Envir-onmental Health Department recommended rec-ommended that the Authority not disband so that it could make recomendations to the legislature concerning the Great Salt Lake. Cooper suggested to the Authority Au-thority that considerations be made for the water quality of the Farmington Farm-ington Bay arm of the Great Salt Lake when the Syracuse Causeway is rebuilt. The causeway was washed out in the floods of '83 and following years, and is the only public access to the state park facilities on Antelope Island. The legislature is currently considering con-sidering rebuilding the causeway. The Davis County Health Department Depart-ment and many Davis County residents are concerned that the water quality of Farmington Bay will be neglected. Cooper recommended to the board that variable outlets be built into the causeway so that the water quality of the bay could be maintained main-tained completely fresh or completely com-pletely salty. The reason for this is that the causeway acts as a dike or dam which effectively holds back the fresher waters of the Farmington bay side. These partially freshened waters are much more prone to algae blooms and odors than completely fresh or completely salty waters would be. Members of the board asked Co oper if he felt that Davis County would have an interest in managing the water quality of Farmington Bay. "I think that the citizens of Davis County will mandate that it be controlled, answered Cooper. "In Davis County there is definitely an interest to manage itf "Whatever happens the residents of Davis County are the ones who will have to live with the results," said Cooper. And according to Cooper the worst possible scenario would be to rebuild the causeway as it formerly existed, with no regard for the water quality of the Farmington Bay arm of the Great Salt Lake. Dr. Michael Miner of the Weber Water Conservancy district agrees that the causeway needs to be rebuilt so that the water quality can be managed. "There needs to be adequate openings in the dike so that water can flush out. The openings need to be large enough with baffles and gates to control brine from the Great Salt Lake side," said Miner. Miner also supports the building of a Willard Bay type reservoir in Farmington Bay as part of the Bear River project This reservoir would be about three quarters the size of Willard Bay and would have water quality sufficient for municipal drinking water. Miner believes that in conjunction conjunc-tion with this reservoir the whole of Farmington Bay could also be freshened and managed as high quality fresh water marshes. After futher discussion, the board agreed to continue to meet to continue con-tinue to study alternatives to development de-velopment of the Great Salt Lake and the Farmington Bay proposal. |