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Show The Division of Wildlife Resources is responsible for management of wildlife throughout the state, including the management of 65,000 acres of developed marsh lands around the lake. The Division of Oil and Gas Conservation has jurisdiction over all oil and gas well drilling in the state. The Board of Oil and Gas Conservation has adopted rules and regulations for drilling of oil wells on Great Salt Lake. The Utah Geological and Mineral Survey is charged with the survey of the geography and the mineral occurrences of the state. The survey has had more than 15 years of experience of basic and applied research on the lake including 10 years of sampling and analyzing the lake brines. The Division of State Lands has jurisdiction and control over all state owned lands. Additionally, the State Land Board is charged with selling the minerals of Great Salt Lake on a royalty basis. The Division of Water Rights through the State Engineer allocates all waters which are used for mineral production. The State Engineer is also charged with the allocation of water in the basins tributary to Great Salt Lake. The Division of Health in the Utah Department of Social Services is charged with the authority to development programs for the prevention, control, and abatement of pollution of waters of the state. The Division is also charged with the adoption of water quality standards. Research Needs for the Entire Lake System Mineral Extraction Industry Extraction of salt from Great Salt Lake was established by the early Utah settlers soon after their arrival in 1847. This group is responsible for pioneering the use of solar evaporation to remove salt from the lake brine. Solor evaporation is still the most practical way to extract minerals from the lake brine. Common table salt ( sodium chloride) was the first mineral to be removed from the lake and still accounts for the largest tonnage of salt each year. Production of additional minerals including sodium sulfate, magnesium chloride, and potassium sulfate from the lake brine has also been established. There are presently six salt companies extracting minerals from the lake. Morton, Hardy, National Lead Industries, and the Solar Division of American Salt operate with south arm brine. Two companies, namely, Lake Crystal and Great Salt Lake Minerals and Chemicals, extract minerals from the north arm brine. The chemical feasibility of extracting minerals from Great Salt Lake is well established and documented. Both the production of individual companies and the royalties paid by the entire industry to the State of Utah are documented in Searle et al. ( 1976). This publication is a compilation and summary of information which was gathered by the Utah Legislative Council in support of planning on Great Salt Lake The publication contains current information on many aspects of the lake system. A major concern of the extraction industry is access to concentrated brines. Since the completion of the railroad causeway this has been a problem for the south arm salt producers. The determination of future salinity trends, ionic makeup of the lake brines, and the distribution of salinity in different parts of the lake were identified as major research needs. The key to understanding future salinity trends in the lake is a sound knowledge of the present water and salinity balance of the lake and its subdivisions; specifically, the north and south arms. Unfortunately, many aspects of these balances are not yet completely defined. Methods of supplying the south arm salt producers with a more concentrated brine were investigated by Whelan and Stauffer ( 1972). Their study looked mainly at equalizing the concentration of brines in the two arms. Their suggestions included removing 1500 feet of the railroad fill, pumping south arm brines into the north arm, and diverting the Bear River into the north arm. Any scheme to equalize the brine concentration produces a trade off between increasing the production capabilities of the south arm producers and decreasing the capabilities of the north arm producers. Whelan and Stauffer also investigated the possibility of pumping north arm brine through a pipeline to the south arm producers. They discounted the use of the deep south arm brine because it is apparently contaminated with organic matter, heavy metals and obnoxious odors. They also assumed that diverting the inflow of the Bear River and breaching the causeway would not alter the present lake character of a completely mixed north arm and a stratified south arm. Projects which alter the lake to this degree might cause the north arm to stratify or increase the stratification of the south arm. An immediate concern of the mineral extraction industry is damage to facilities due to the present high level of the lake. A high priority research need is to identify both short and long term methods to allevi- 29 |