A continued rise in the level of the Great Salt Lake could cost the state upward of $6 million to reactivate the West Desert pumps.
A proposed management plan for the Great Salt Lake, to be released to the public early next week, calls for the pumps to start up when the lake level reaches 4,208 feet -- to the disappointment of some lakeside businesses.The lake level now rests at 4,202 feet but if the recent trend of wet winters continues, some drainage may be warranted. The lake level can rise several feet annually, but the pumps can remove only one foot of water per year.
Some lake industries, whose infrastructures are threatened by the rising level, had suggested the pumps be turned on when the lake reaches 4,205 feet.
But it's not a matter of just flicking a switch.
The proposed plan, issued by the Utah Department of Natural Resources' Division of Fire, Forestry and State Lands, calls for a start-up cost of $2 million to $3 million and another $3.5 million expense to rechannel the flow so that water is extracted from both the south and north arms of the lake. The pumps, last used between 1987-89, would cost about $1 million a year to operate.
"They are basically mothballed, and the question has become at what point do the pumps get turned on again," said Jim Springer, spokesman for the Great Salt Lake Planning Project and the division.
Springer cautioned, however, that re-starting the pumps will not guarantee a specific lake level.
"They are really not an effective flood-control device per se. We can't turn them on and off and control the level of the lake at our whim," Springer said. "The lake is going to do what the lake is going to do. The pumps, at best, might take a little bit off the top to reduce the flood (danger) in some areas."
The additional $3.5 million to rechannel the flow to the pumps is needed to maintain the already fragile balance of salinity in the two halves of the lake.
The plan also recommends removing silt that has been deposited over time in a 300-foot-wide breech in the 21-mile railroad causeway that cuts the lake in half.
The breech, engineered in the 1950s when the Union Pacific rail corridor was extended across the lake, is designed to be 8 feet, 8 inches deep. But the influx of sediment has reduced the depth to about 4 feet, 8 inches, preventing proper circulation between the two sides of the lake and threatening the brine shrimp population in the now less-salty southern portion.
It would cost the state between $150,000 and $500,000 to remove silt from the breech.
The plan also calls for Union Pacific to clear out two 30-foot culverts beneath the causeway to assist in that re-circulation of saltwater. The railroad is already working to clear silt out of those culverts, Springer said.
Highlights of the plan were presented to a Utah Legislature interim committee Wednesday. The Legislature ultimately controls how much money, if any, will be spent on reactivating the pumps or clearing the breech in the causeway.
Kathlyn Collins, a board member of Friends of Great Salt Lake, said her group will reserve judgment until it has seen the full report. The document should be available in all county libraries in the counties surrounding the lake by next week.
But Collins said Friends favors efforts to clear out the breech and restore more of a natural flow between the two halves of the lake.
"But what I'm also saying is that's a good step, but I am in favor of looking to continue monitoring and see what else can be done to increase that . . . something more drastic," like additional breeches in the causeway, she said.
"We're advocating to continue to protect and preserve the ecosystem instead of having the driving factor of management be solely economic value."
Friends, then, would be less likely to support re-activation of the pumps at the lower level of 4,205 feet as suggested by the salt mining interests. Starting the pumps at that level would require an additional $10 million in start-up costs, Springer said.
Comments on the 300-page management plan will be accepted for 45 days and can be mailed to: The Department of Natural Resources, Great Salt Lake Planning Project, 1594 W. North Temple, suite 3520, Salt Lake City, UT 84114.