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Show "Utah Lake is not polluted, as some individuals may think," says Paul Dixon, Utah Lake State Park ranger. He has been concerned that people peo-ple may not be using Utah Lake and the park facilities there because of an erroneous conception that the lake is polluted. pol-luted. TO ENLIGHTEN and change misguided thinking about ab-out Utah Lake, Mr. Dixon has provided the following exposition exposi-tion for serious perusal. In it he positively answers the question ques-tion Is Utah Lake polluted? Contrary to popular belief, Utah Lake is not polluted according to U.S. government studies. Public consensus would likely classify Utah Lake as badly polluted, but scientific investigations show this is not true if we define pollution pol-lution as degradation resulting from man's activities. MOST PEOPLE judge the lake by its appearance, which is not clear like a deep-water lake. Utah Lake's average depth is only 9.4 feet. During much of the ice-free season, Utah Lake is turbid, exhibiting a milky, gray appearance during dur-ing calm periods, to a gray-brown gray-brown appearance during windy win-dy periods. This turbidity is a natural feature fe-ature of the lake. Small mineral deposits and particles are agitated agi-tated and kept in suspension by natural wave and water-current water-current motions. This makes the lake appear polluted, but you must realize that all shallow shal-low lakes have the same appearance. Another aesthetic problem Utah Lake has is tin) over-population of algae. , , MANY PEOPLE think that this algae is pollution, which it is not. All lakes have algae. Utah Lake, because of a large content of phosphorus, happens hap-pens to have more than the average. av-erage. Because of sewage treatment treat-ment plants, the bacteria contamination con-tamination of Utah Lake has dropped. For example, the accepted state bacteria limit for water activities is 1 ,000 total tot-al coliform MPN (most probable prob-able number) per 100 ml. FREQUENT government counts at Utah Lake seldom exceed 100 MPN per 100 ml. and were usually lower. The Utah State Department of Health claims that Utah Lake is safe for water activities. Utah Lake has a much greater grea-ter potential for water recreation recrea-tion and fishing than is currently current-ly being realized. Recognition of this potential rests more on public acceptance of this lake. - FINDINGS indicate that Utah Lake water is of good quality with the aesthetic problem prob-lem consisting largely of natural natu-ral turbidity and algae. Utah Lake will always remain re-main a shallow, dirty lake. There is nothing man can do to change this, but the recreation opportunities do exist for you on Utah's largest fresh-water lake. |