U.S. Water News Online
BEAR LAKE, Utah -- Citizen activists are mounting a
campaign to force Utah
Power to clean up mud-laden sections of popular Bear Lake that
straddles the
Utah-Idaho border. After a dike failure two years ago, the normally
turquoise
color of the lake has turned brown over as much as 20 percent of the
surface,
local residents claim.
Utah Power, which operates Bear Lake as a storage reservoir for
downstream
irrigators on the Bear River, acknowledges that it is responsible for
at
least some of the silting. Officials of the utility, however,
maintain that
cleaning up the mud is unnecessary and that the lake will eventually
clear
itself.
"The natural wave action will heal this thing and over time it
will mend
itself," said Utah Power hydrologist Carly Burton. "We think that's
the best
way," noted Burton. A group called "LOVE Bear Lake," however, has
gathered
more than 800 signatures on a petition urging the utility to initiate
a
cleanup program.
"There are tons of mud that spilled onto the lake bed, which is
state
property," noted an official of the group. "But Utah Power's attitude
is it
will clean itself up. If you or I did something like this, we'd go to
jail."
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