(4/25/99)
The Great Salt Lake is famous, of course.
But it's also notorious, because, all too often, it stinks!
And now there are worries it could smell even worse in the future.
Environment Specialist John Hollenhorst explains how big a stink? How big a problem?
It's hard to say. There are many scientific unknowns about the lake's behavior. And there's certainly disagreement about whether the smell is a real worry for the future.
But some think the smell is likely to get worse and, maybe, it's happening already.
March 18th. Dozens are sickened, thousands evacuate, when a nauseating wave of foul-smelling gas washes over the city.
Get ready, Utah! That could be the wave of the future!
Wally Gwynn, of the Utah Geological Survey, says "Whether this is a forerunner of something that could become worse, I don't know. We're just going to have to wait and see."
Scientist Wally Gwynn can't prove it. But he suspects that ugly smell was actually body odor from Utah's biggest body of water.
"It seems to me that it could very well have been," he says.
Smelling the lake is nothing new of course. Even the pioneers found that, once in a awhile, Zion stunk to High Heaven. But there's a theory, controversial and unproven, that it will get worse because of man's tinkering.
When it was built in 1959, this railroad causeway upset the dynamics of the Great Salt Lake. It divided the lake into two lakes, and all the rivers flow into the southern one.
As lakewater flows north through the causeway's only major opening, it takes salt into the North Arm. The South Arm is getting fresher.
You can see the difference in color.
A flask of South Arm water today
holds little salt.
The same amount of water from the North Arm
holds three times as much. Some say if the South Arm keeps losing salt, the biology can change.
According to Gwynn, "As we freshen we have the potential of more bacterial action in the lake."
If you take a shovel and jam it into the bottom of the lake, you can stir up a lot of bubbles. That's gas. And believe me, a lot of it stinks! The bottom of the lake is covered with rich organic material.
Scientists say the lake had it's own natural odor control system for thousands of years.
The saltiest water sat on the bottom. The extremely dense layer of heavy brine trapped organic material and gases at the bottom of the lake.
Now, the heavy brine is mostly north of the causeway; and the south arm holds only light brine.
Don Currey, a University of Utah Geographer, says,
"And the result is that neither one of those is stable. They can both circulate their bottom organic waters to the surface. Meaning smell."
And what about algae? It's normally eaten by brine shrimp. But the shrimp are declining, possibly because of the lake's salt problem. That could mean more algae will go uneaten.
Clay Perschon, of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, says, "It dies, it falls to the bottom of the lake. Or it washes up on shore. And in either instance it decomposes, and can cause a smell."
The theory is controversial. And if it does happen, no one knows if the smell will be a little worse, or a lot worse.
Curry says, "It's not a real big concern."
Perschon says, "I'm sure that we'll notice it. Whether we'll have to head for the hills or not, I don't know."
But another expert we spoke with says there's no evidence yet of an algae problem. And he doubts the smell will be a big issue anywhere except Farmington Bay, which is already a pretty smelly place.
Now, the salt imbalance is causing serious concern in other circles though, because millions of dollars and millions of birds are at stake.
We'll have more on that Monday night.
