A citizens group disturbed by the sediment pouring into Bear Lake is calling for alterative reservoirs along the Bear River.
But sedimentation in the river needs to be controlled before the idea would work in the long term, an Idaho Department of Fish and Game biologist says.Siltation in the lake was compounded last May when a levee ruptured between Mud Lake and Bear Lake, spewing sediment into the sky-blue waterway straddling the Utah border.
The group wants the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the Army Corps of Engineers to build an alternative storage reservoir, or a series of them, along the river.
It would keep sediment out of Bear Lake and provide farmers with more storage water, Langford said. It could also help Utah Power because the utility would have more sites to generate hydroelectricity.
The proposal has some merit because fish are "declining, but not on their way out" in Bear Lake, said Jim Mende, Fish and Game regional fisheries biologist. The mud is harming the five species of game fish native to the lake.