06-05-2015, 09:43 PM
[#0000FF]Although "Golden Pond" is in pretty good shape ecologically these days it did suffer from shabby treatment in the past. There used to be everything from raw sewage to "fresh" bovine downloads running into the lake. And during the years that Geneva Steel was in operation there was definitely some hazmat stuff flushing into the lake 24/7. Even the walleyes and white bass smelled like used 30 weight oil. Don't know what they might have tasted like. Couldn't get past the smell when filleting them.
Tighter environmental controls on community, industrial and agricultural runoffs helped. And when Geneva Steel shut down around the year 2001 that ended their "contributions" to the water quality issues.
Since then the lake gets flushed annually. Lots of inflow from several natural creeks and rivers. And virtually 100 percent of what comes in goes down the Jordan to water users and Salt Lake. The winds that stir up the water help by recycling much of the sediment on the bottom and sending it on down the river. There are still pockets of "leftover" sludge but none of the heavy layers of toxic waste that some folks seem to believe is there. There are still rock piles and bedrock on the bottom of the lake in many spots. It is not a festering quagmire.
The water coming into the lake from Provo River, Spanish Fork River, American Fork River, Hobble Creek, Spring Creek, Battle Creek and other tributaries is all pretty good water. In a good runoff year the lake might turn over a couple of times. That helps a lot.
I am beyond "three score and ten" years. I have been eating fish from Utah Lake since the 1960s and I know of whole families that have relied on Utah Lake protein as a welcome aid to the family budget for many years. Though some may dispute it, I have not developed any health problems or anomalies from my consumption of UL fish. Nor have I ever heard of any credible reports of anybody else becoming ill from eating those fish.
I loved it during the time I lived in New Orleans. The Mississippi River running through that town was heavily laden with all kinds of stuff from the cities, factories and farms upstream. The joke was that night fishing was easy on the mighty Miss. All the fish glow in the dark.
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Tighter environmental controls on community, industrial and agricultural runoffs helped. And when Geneva Steel shut down around the year 2001 that ended their "contributions" to the water quality issues.
Since then the lake gets flushed annually. Lots of inflow from several natural creeks and rivers. And virtually 100 percent of what comes in goes down the Jordan to water users and Salt Lake. The winds that stir up the water help by recycling much of the sediment on the bottom and sending it on down the river. There are still pockets of "leftover" sludge but none of the heavy layers of toxic waste that some folks seem to believe is there. There are still rock piles and bedrock on the bottom of the lake in many spots. It is not a festering quagmire.
The water coming into the lake from Provo River, Spanish Fork River, American Fork River, Hobble Creek, Spring Creek, Battle Creek and other tributaries is all pretty good water. In a good runoff year the lake might turn over a couple of times. That helps a lot.
I am beyond "three score and ten" years. I have been eating fish from Utah Lake since the 1960s and I know of whole families that have relied on Utah Lake protein as a welcome aid to the family budget for many years. Though some may dispute it, I have not developed any health problems or anomalies from my consumption of UL fish. Nor have I ever heard of any credible reports of anybody else becoming ill from eating those fish.
I loved it during the time I lived in New Orleans. The Mississippi River running through that town was heavily laden with all kinds of stuff from the cities, factories and farms upstream. The joke was that night fishing was easy on the mighty Miss. All the fish glow in the dark.
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[signature]