Utah Lake
Utah Lake is a shallow freshwater lake in the center of Utah County, Utah, United States. It lies in Utah Valley, surrounded by the Provo-Orem metropolitan area. The lake's only river outlet, the Jordan River, is a tributary of the Great Salt Lake. Evaporation accounts for 42% of the lake's outflow, which leaves the lake slightly saline. The elevation of the lake is at above sea level. If the lake's water level rises above that, the pumps and gates on the Jordan River are left open.
Image:Utah Lake.jpg|thumb|left|Utah Lake and Utah Valley
The first European to see Utah Lake was Father Silvestre Vélez de Escalante in 1776. He stayed with the Timpanogots band of Ute Tribe for three days. Mormon settlers later settled near the lake beginning in 1849, with the Timpanogots becoming mostly displaced from the area by 1872. The native fish species of the lake were overharvested by the settlers and subsequently restocked with non-native species.
Although thirteen species of fish were native to the lake, only the Utah sucker and the previously critically endangered, now threatened, June sucker remain. The dominant species in the lake is the common carp, introduced in 1883 as an alternative to the overharvested native fish. The carp is now estimated at 90% of the biomass of the lake and contributes to a decline in native fish populations by severely altering the ecosystem. Pollution has also caused problems with the lake's ecosystem. Raw sewage was dumped into the lake as late as 1967. Pollution problems still remain; the lake's phosphorus and mineral salt levels are in violation of the Clean Water Act. In recent years, the lake has been prone to harmful algal blooms or HABs.
Utah Lake is managed cooperatively by the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands and the Utah Lake Authority. The Division manages public use and issues a permit for commercial users of the lakebed and shoreline while the Commission facilitates development. The lakebed and surrounding shoreline are made up of State Sovereign Lands. Utah Lake is one of three lakes in the state that were deemed "navigable" at statehood and granted to the State of Utah. Sovereign lands are managed under the public trust doctrine.
The Utah State Legislature has designated the Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands as the executive authority for the management of sovereign lands and the state's mineral estates on lands other than school and institutional trust lands. Sovereign lands are defined by the Utah State Legislature as "those lands lying below the ordinary high water mark of navigable bodies of water at the date of statehood and owned by the state by virtue of its sovereignty."
The Commission was created by State statute in Utah's 2007 General Legislative Session, , under the authority of the . The Commission is funded and empowered by 17 area governments, including; Utah County and its municipalities, the , and three state agencies. Founded in 2007, the Commission seeks to promote multiple public uses of the lake, facilitate orderly planning and development in and around the lake, and enable individual Commission members to govern their own areas.
Name
European explorers initially called the lake "Lake Timpanogos" after the Timpanogos band of the Shoshone tribe. From 1825-1827, Belgian cartographer Philippe Vandermaelen created and published Atlas Universel. Map number 47 in volume 4 of the atlas is titled "Partie du Mexique" and features an early illustrative depiction of Lac de Timpanogos. An 1827 letter written by American explorer Jedidiah Strong Smith contains an early reference to "Utah" as the name of the lake. In an article titled "Notes of Upper California" published in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London in 1835, author Thomas Coulter indicated that "Lake Timpanogos" may have also been known as "Black Lake" by local hunters. While 1827 may date the earliest known reference to the name "Utah" for the lake, it is apparent from the 1835 article by Coulter that the change in name did not take hold right away. The precise origin of the name "Utah Lake" is unknown. One possible explanation is that it was named for the abundant reeds in and around the lake, called "Eu-tah". Another explanation is that it was incorrectly named after the Ute Tribe.Geography
Utah Lake is within Utah Valley in north-central Utah. Mountains surround Utah Valley on three sides: the Wasatch Range to the east, Traverse Mountains to the north, and the Lake Mountains to the west. Mount Nebo reaches an altitude of, and Mount Timpanogos reaches an altitude of, nearly above the valley floor. Jutting into the south portion of the lake is West Mountain, which divides Goshen Bay and Lincoln Beach. Utah Lake is situated on the western edge of the valley and covers more than 25% of Utah Valley's floor. Because of its location on the western side of the valley, the eastern shore has a gentle slope and the western shore rises abruptly against the Lake Mountains. Connected to the main body of the lake are two large, shallow bays: the aforementioned Goshen Bay to the south and Provo Bay to the east. Major cities such as Provo and Orem are located between the lake's eastern shore and the Wasatch Range.Utah Lake is a remnant of a much larger pleistocene lake called Lake Bonneville, which existed from 75,000 to 8,000 years ago. At its peak 30,000 years ago, Lake Bonneville reached an elevation of above sea level and had a surface area of, which was nearly as large as Lake Michigan. The weight of the lake depressed sections of the lake bottom by as much as before the surface rebounded when the lake dried up. About 12,000 years ago, the climate of the region became warmer and drier. As evaporation rates exceeded inflow rates, the lake began to dry up, leaving Utah Lake, the Great Salt Lake, Sevier Lake, and Rush Lake as remnants.
Image:American Fork Canyon and view of Bonneville terrace.jpg|thumb|left|Wasatch Range and ancient shoreline of Lake Bonneville
Over the roughly 65,000 years that Lake Bonneville existed, sediments built up, creating a lacustrine plain over Utah Valley. As a result, the valley floor and lake bed are relatively flat, which causes the lake to be shallow. The lake has a maximum depth of just under and an average depth of about. This shallowness allows winds to easily stir up sediments from the lake's bottom, contributing to the turbidity or the impression of pollution seen in Utah Lake's water.
Three faults run under Utah Lake. One of the faults, the Bird Island fault, runs under the eastern edge of the lake and helps give rise to hot springs near Lincoln Beach. The other major hot spring is on the northern shore and is called Saratoga Springs. The hot springs mostly result from the development of hydraulic pressure as the ground water slopes toward the middle of the lake.
The lake contains a small island called Bird Island, about north of the Lincoln Beach boat ramp, near its south end. The island has a few trees and is somewhat visible from Lincoln Beach. During high-water years, the island may be completely submerged, the trees being the only indication it is there. It is a fairly popular destination among fishermen seeking walleye, white bass, and channel catfish.
Hydrology
The Utah Lake watershed drains over mostly mountainous terrain. The watershed's highest point is at Bald Mountain in the Uinta Mountains. are managed by the United States Forest Service, are managed by other government entities, and the majority of the rest, , are privately owned.Two major tributaries account for nearly 60% of inflow by streams or rivers into Utah Lake. The Provo River accounts for 36% of the inflow, and the Spanish Fork river accounts for 24%. Other tributaries include the American Fork river, Current Creek, Dry Creek, Hobble Creek, and Mill Race Creek. Additionally, many hot springs and smaller creeks are flowing into the lake. Utah Lake is drained by the Jordan River, which begins at the lake's north end. The river flows north through Utah, Salt Lake, and Davis counties and then into the southeast portion of the Great Salt Lake. Given the lake's semi-arid climate, large surface area, and shallow average depth, evaporation accounts for 42% of Utah Lake's outflow.
Image:Jordan River Pumps.jpg|thumb|left|Jordan River pumping station at Utah Lake, April 2010
After several years of drought, irrigation companies argued over their share of Utah Lake's water from the Jordan River. Judge Morse of the Third District Court issued his judgment known as the Morse Decree of 1901. The decree stated that the irrigation companies "are entitled to a decree awarding to them, subject to the limitations hereinafter set forth, the right to the use of all the balance of the waters of the Jordan River, for municipal, irrigation, culinary, and domestic purposes, to the extent of the capacity of their several canals, and the right to impound and store all of the waters of said river in Utah Lake." In response to the drought, a pumping plant was installed at the outlet of the Jordan River from Utah Lake. It was the largest pumping plant in the United States at the time. The plant contained seven pumps with a total capacity of per second. After the decree was released, Utah Lake essentially became an irrigation reservoir, and the Jordan River's flow was highly regulated.
As a result of the 1983–1984 flooding, a lawsuit was filed for compensation due to flooding based upon breach of contract of the previous compromise level. In 1985, a new compromise level was reached, which governed the maximum level of the lake. The new level was chosen to be above sea level. When the water level in Utah Lake exceeds this level, the Jordan River pumps and gates are left open. The new compromise level also meant that the lake's elevation was below Jordan River's stream bed.
Pollution
In 1948, a study showed Utah Lake was being seriously polluted. As a result, Utah County cities decided to plan how and where to build sewage treatment plants instead of dumping raw sewage into the lake. By 1954, many cities had constructed sewage treatment plants, but Provo's was still under construction. Raw sewage was still getting into the lake by 1967.In the State of Utah, the Utah Division of Water Quality and Utah Division of Drinking Water are responsible for the management and regulation of water quality. Lakes, rivers, and streams that exceed the standard levels are then placed on the DEQ 303d list in accordance with the Clean Water Act. The Act requires states to identify impaired water bodies every two years and develop a total maximum daily load for pollutants that a body of water can assimilate without causing the water body to exceed the water quality standards. Utah Lake was originally put on Utah's 2000 and 2004 303d list for phosphorus and total dissolved solids exceeding recommend values. High levels of phosphorus can cause high levels of nuisance algae growth, low dissolved oxygen, and eleTDS tells about the concentration of mineral salts in the water, which can cause problems to agriculture and culinary water supplies. Excess levels of phosphorus come from multiple sources, but namely the wastewater treatment plants, are extremely concerning when it comes to Utah Lake management because high levels can trigger harmful algal blooms and eutrophication There is some discussion as to how much of the phosphorus is the result of anthropogenic causes and how much is the result of historic phosphorus stored in the lake sediment.
Krissy Wilson of Utah's Division of Wildlife Resources stated in 2010 that water quality is now improving, with greater flows of water, among other things, contributing to the improvement. However, the presence and activity of carp, which stir up solids in the water, makes it difficult to appreciate the improvement without conducting scientific measurements.