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Show If Legislator e agrees, : ' coalMoe has plaes for huge fresh water lake ; By JUDY JENSEN r . Editor f ; DAVIS COUNTY-If the legisla ture approves their proposal, members mem-bers of the Lake Wasatch Coalition will be one step closer to creatine new fresh water lake in Davis r,- , Tsn - NX I liiiTaJf ' 4r. w- - ; I I' flSfi - --t- ,, 1 , , County that will be five times the size of Utah Lake. - Architect Don David Johnson, a Bountiful resident has been- work- -- ing on the proposal since 1994 and has now joined with other experts In forming the coalition to promote the 'Lake Wasatch' concept He has designed a new.: diking system which would eliminate all of the problems created by conventional dikes. According to Mr. Johnson, the installation of the pumps on the Great Salt Lake has now made it possible for a diking system to work. Mr. Johnson pointed out that the division of the lake is almost complete com-plete Promontory t Peninsula projects 18 mites into the lake, continuing con-tinuing south three miles is Fremont Island, followed by Antelope Island six miles further. "Plugging the leaks would take only 16 miles of dike," he said. p Once the diking is in place, the 4,000,000 cubic acre foot lake would be replenished 5 by the 2,800,000 cubic acre feet of unclaimed un-claimed water that currently flows into the Great Salt Lake from the east "Old polluted water will exit at a low level at the south tip of Antelope An-telope Island through a penstock at the base of the dike," explained Johnson. He added that if Lake Wasatch Wa-satch had been completed early in ' 1986, the entire lake would have been flushed twice that year. The creation of Lake Wasatch would also create 197 miles of shoreline on property which is currently cur-rently unusable. According to the Hazard Mitigation Plan of 1985, any property below the 4217 foot level risked potential flooding from the lake and, therefore, should not be developed. That affected over 200,000 acres of property along the . Wasatch Front According to Johnson, John-son, the diking wilL stabilize the level of the lake, making all of the shoreline property Valuable. Coalition Coali-tion members foresee the opportun- j ity for a hew lifestyle for area residents. resi-dents. Hotels, restaurants, private ; boat docks and golf courses may be a part of the "island paradise." Most of the shoreline property is 'Owned by private individuals which would allow unlimited lakeside facilities fa-cilities and development ' "Antelope Island could become . accessible with a choice of fresh water on the east and salt water beaches on the .west The state could encourage development that would make it a tourist attraction i greater than Bryce and Zions com-bined, com-bined, It could provide in the summer sum-mer what Our ski areas do in the ' winter," said Johnson. Johnson has enlisted the help of some of Utah's top engineers and designers, soil scientists, hydrolo-gists hydrolo-gists and concrete scientists, including includ-ing Vance T. Christenscn, J. Derle Thrope, Loren Runar Anderson and FredW.KeiferJr. Johnson attributes recent opposition oppo-sition to the proposal by Utah Geological Geo-logical and Mineral Survey Director Genevieve Atwood, to lack of understanding of the new diking system. The newly developed diking dik-ing is superior to conventional diking dik-ing for many reasons according to Johnson. One major advantage is the cost, which is a third less than conventional. In June 1987 the estimated es-timated cost of diking the area with conventional diking with a 28 ft wide top was $251,316,800. John-, son estimates that the cost Of the new dike with a 10Q ft top will be only $90 million. The 100 feet could serve as a scenic parkway lining lin-ing a multi-lane highway. O CONT.ON PG. 4 This aerial photo shows the areas that would be diked to form Lake Wasatch. If the legts- r Iature approver the concept, members of the Lake Wasatch Coalition will proceed with plans to create the fresh water lake which would be five times the size of Utah Lake, " .r w------- - . - v- 1 . Jsr : , : V'..f .V - , - , -' n '"-r -w- ' I- MWwiMa. , mm , ,nln r ,.,.. , , L, J- - Great Salt Lake shoreline property which is currently unuseable...(see below) Civ' 7 ' ' - - - s :s '"sv 1 f-; - v t-" ' W- fjfi : 4 I v-M, iv"i,-r,if,1 'fi s if t i p no-" :.-K i ?C - .Wawv-MtiAMfti ' WW .' fo'.M AA'f .'Xr:J::::. 1 , s-- k ' .s-i-JXTKy;... l;.;.;.y..L.; . wj Proposal for Lake Wasatch is complete CONT. FROM PG. 2 The new diking would consist of parallel lines of prcstressed concrete con-crete slabs 13 feet wide which would be vibrated into the soft bed of the lake up to a depth of 40 feet The slabs would fit together with a tongue and groove configuration. Once in place, the concrete would be horizontally post-tensioned post-tensioned by steel cables of 270,000 -psi. This system provides a certain amount of flexibility to the dike which would allow it to move and not be lost in case of an earthquake.. The concrete walls would be lined . with a 90 mill rubber lining which would prevent leaks in case of :' cracks or other damage to the dike. When the dike is completed it ' would be filled with millions of cubic cu-bic yards of oolitic sands pumped from the lake bottom. The sands are perfectly spherical granules of limestone-like material which occur naturally in the lake. - Lake Wasatch Coalition organi- . zational director, Steve Smoot of Wasatch Development, has joined Johnson in petitioning the legislature legisla-ture to approve the development of the Great Salt Lake Development Authority. If approved, the bill would provide for the creation of an authority to further investigate the diking proposal. The proposed authority would function similar to a water conservancy conser-vancy district. It would have nine voting members - one from each . adjacent county, Davis,' Box Elder, Weber and Salt Lake - and the state treasurer, state economic development de-velopment director, three at-large representatives and a non-voting member from Tooele County. Smoot said construction on the project would begin in 18 months and be completed in four years, "if everything goes as scheduled." ' . Both Smoot and Johnson are ex-. ex-. cited about the potential of the de- . velopment. "What could it mean to Could be transformed into beachfront property, much like the San Francisco Bay area, if the Lake Wasatch proposal pro-posal is successful. ' the Wasatch Front to have three Lake Powells within one-half-hour of three-fourths of the state's popu-; popu-; lation. It would represent the opportunity oppor-tunity for a new. lifestyle to live on the lake and still be only minutes from work.. Residents could take -their own boat from their private boat dock to a favorite lakeside restaurant, res-taurant, fishing spot, gun club or golf course. The possibilities are endless," said Johnson enthusiastically. en-thusiastically. " |