| OCR Text |
Show 70 Estimates of groundwater entering the Lake vary from 36,000 acre- feet to 200,000 acre- feet. Based on their estimate of 200,000 acre- feet, Handy and Hahl estimate the groundwater entering the Lake in 1964 contained about 1.2 million tons of dissolved solids. Thus, total dissolved solids entering the Lake from both ground and surface sources may be estimated at three to five million tons per year, which, when compared to the four to six billion tons of solids already in the brine, indicates that mineral inflow is relatively insignificant to the chemical composition of the Lake. Since the first recorded chemical analysis of the Lake brine in 1896, analyses have been made which indicate that the chemical composition of dissolved solids has remained virtually constant over the last century. Table 9 shows the maximum and minimum value that has been observed for each constituent since 1869. The fact that their totals are so close to 100 percent is an indication of the essentially constant composition of the dissolved solids. The relatively small variation in concentration of each constituent is even more significant considering the use of different analytical methods and sample sites and variations in temperature and density of brine over those years. Table 10 shows the extreme dissolved constituent in the Lake measured in short tons. Heavy Metals A long- term problem which must be faced in managing the Great Salt Lake is the problem of metallic and other pollutants. Any metal, either dissolved or suspended, which reaches the Lake must either remain in the brines or be deposited in the sediments. The Utah Geological and Mineral |
