About Utah Lake
History
Utah lake was once a rich and plentiful fishing ground for the Ute indians and early settlers of the valley. The Utes had been dependent on the lake for a food source for many years, and during the early years of white settlement, before they fully understood the land, the settlers used it for a main source of food. Eventually the fish populations in the lake were diminishing due to overharvesting. In the 1800’s the acting fish commissioner for the lake, Milton Musser, decided to solve the problem by importing 80,000 carp into the lake and happily reported that they were “multiplying rapidly.” In very little time, the natural habitat of the native fish was completely destroyed by the carp, and the lake was changed to fit the carp instead. Although the carp make up a large percent of the lakes biomass, they are one of few factors controlling the lakes algae blooms, and it’s not enough to bring the algae levels down.
Pollution
High levels of nutrients coming from water treatment plants and storm runoff combined with increasing average temperatures has given way for the algae in Utah lake to continue growing with no real factors keeping the blooms from getting out of hand. The blooms begin forming in the summer taking advantage of the abundant nutrients the lake receives during the spring, but the warmer winters have made it so a large portion of the algae in the lake can survive through the winter and continue growing the following year.