OCR Text |
Show very beneficial to the ecosystem, while excessive nutrients could overload the system and disrupt the ecosystem. Determining the role of nutrients in the ecosystem and the concentration which would overload the system represent research needs. Water quality standards are difficult to set for the lake because with the hypersaline conditions ordinary fresh water standards do not apply. However, it is important that reliable methods of water quality analysis be researched and standard methods for water quality analysis be established so that results of water quality studies on the lake can be compared. The chemists at Kennecott have done some work along this line. The research needs identified for the water quality aspects of the physical system are listed in Table 11. The research needs are not listed in priority groups because this is not appropriate until the extent of the lake pollution problems are identified. Research Needs for Farmington Bay Farmington Bay is a shallow portion of the lake lying east of Antelope Island. The bay is separated from the main body of the lake by causeways between the mainland and the north and south ends of Antelope Island. The exchange between the lake and the bay is thus limited and the bay has the potential of becoming a freshwater body. Recreational and wildlife uses of the bay have been proposed. However, the water quality of the bay will have a large and perhaps controlling impact on the future uses of the bay. Background Several attempts have been made to construct a permanent fill from Syracuse to the state park on the north end of Antelope Island. The causeway has been severely damaged several times due to the rising lake stage but has been rebuilt to a higher elevation and survived the high water during the spring of 1976. A private causeway connects the mainland to the south end of Antelope Island. Several sections of this road were lost during the spring of 1976 which allowed the water in Farmington Bay to flow into the lake around the south end of the island. Because the causeway sits on a strip of high ground, this flow will probably be eliminated if the lake recedes much below its present level. The Antelope Island causeway is the main impediment to circulation between the bay and the lake. The free flow exchange across the causeway passes beneath a 30 meter clear- span bridge situated near the island. Salinity observations made in the bay when predecessors to the present causeway were intact indicated the bay would tend to freshen with the Antelope Island causeway in place and flow restricted around the south end of the island ( Coburn and Eckhoff, 1972, and Meide and Nicholes, 1972). The bay has serious water quality problems which must be addressed in considering the use of the bay. The water quality is affected by the past as well as the Table 11. Research needs identified for the water quality aspects. Research Needs Possible Information Source Identification of the present and potential water quality problems; especially heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides, pathogenic organism, and organic material in the form of biochemical oxygen demand. Field and laboratory investigations of biological and chemical reactions which occur in the lake including possible formation of toxic heavy metal compounds. The length of survival of pathogenic organisms in the lake brine at various salinity concentrations. The aerobic and anaerobic decay rates. The water quality parameter which makes the lower south arm brine unusable for salt production. . The effect of pollutants on the lake ecosystem. Methods of water quality analysis for the hypersaline conditions. The salinity level at which fresh water standards apply. The effect of construction in the lake on water quality by disturbing the benthic deposits or altering the circulation pattern. Any changes in water quality which occur in the marsh lands. Projected waste inflow to the lake. DH, UGMS DH, UGMS, UWRL, U of U DH, UWRL, UofU UWRL, U of U UGMS DH, Post ( USU), UWRL, U of U DH, EPA, Kennecott Copper Corp. DH, UWRL, U of U DH, UWRL, Watters ( USU) DH, UWRL, DWLR EPA, DWR 47 |