Just five years ago, the Great Salt Lake had state and local officials in a near state of panic. Tracking the lake's level became an around-the-clock preoccupation.
It was the irony of all ironies: People in a desert pleading for Mother Nature to turn off the water.What a difference a few years make. Now, monitoring the lake level has become, well, rather boring.
In the spring of 1987, the relentlessly rising waters had officials in a dither trying to come up with solutions to keep the lake from inundating lakeside industrial complexes, sewage treatment plants and even the Salt Lake International Airport. Makeshift dikes became a common sight as harried local officials kept a daily watch on lake level readings and pressured the state to take action.
Finally, the state did act, ordering and installing gigantic pumps on the lake's west shore at a cost of $75 million to Utah taxpayers. With the lake at an all-time high elevation of 4,211.85 feet, the pumps began to make a difference, gradually lowering the lake level by pumping water into a depressed area west of the lake.
But Mother Nature had the last laugh as weather patterns suddenly changed, dragging Utah into what has become a five-year drought. The gigantic pumps now sit idly with nothing to do.
As the summer of 1991 nears an end, the lake level hovers around 4,202 feet, about midway between the 1987 panic point of too much water and the 1963 panic point of not enough water when the lake dipped to an all-time low of 4,191.35 feet in elevation.
The current reading of 4,201.9 feet is just seven-tenths of a foot lower than the Oct. 1, 1990 reading. Following the spring run-off, or rather, lack of spring run-off, the lake peaked at just 4,203.2 feet on June 5. A spate of late spring storms and early summer showers and cooler than average temperatures kept readings fairly constant for most of June. Once the hot weather returned in July, however, readings began a steady decline.
And there have been other changes since the 1987 crisis. It no longer requires a 10-mile ride in a pickup truck to get a gauge reading at the Salt Lake marina or a daylong excursion to get a gauge reading near the Southern Pacific Railroad Causeway west of Ogden where the lake is effectively split into two arms - north and south.
The gauges are now automated and linked by satellite to the U.S. Geologic Survey's computer system. The relay system updates the gauge readings every four hours. Technicians at USGS offices on Redwood Road need simply to plug into the agency's computer data base to get the most up-to-date reading.
"Now the only time we have to go out there is when the readings indicate there is a malfunction with the gauge," said Dave Allen, a USGS spokesman.