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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Division of Water Quality wants to boost its preparedness for a summer potentially accompanied by harmful algal bloom outbreaks by hiring a pair of part-time employees to monitor 19 at-risk reservoirs or lakes.
Walt Baker, division director, said the one-time money of $123,000 from the general fund will augment the agency's response to any onset of blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, which can contain toxins that cause nerve or liver damage upon exposure.
Baker, who made the request to the Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environmental Quality Appropriations Subcommittee on Tuesday, said last summer's unprecedented outbreaks at Utah Lake, Payson Lakes and Scofield Reservoir strained the resources of the agency as it grappled with the demands of emergency testing, paying for out-of-state lab analysis and in-state monitoring.
The buildup of cyanobacteria at Utah Lake forced its public closure for multiple weeks for fear of exposure and also shut down Scofield Reservoir at the height of the summer fishing season.
The harmful algal blooms are caused by an overabundance of nutrients in the water, such as phosphorus, as well as heat and stagnant water.
Baker also wants lawmakers' permission to dip into the Utah Wastewater Loan Program account to hire a full-time, permanent spill coordinator at $102,900 a year.
The agency is responding to between 15 and 17 spills a month and needs a full-time employee to track impacts throughout the process, he said.
Some of spills include high-profile events like the Tibble Fork Dam sediment release last summer, the August 2015 Gold King Mine spill in neighboring Colorado that soiled the San Juan River, and the Chevron oil spill from 2010 that sent 800 barrels into the urban waterway.
"These bigger ones are eating our lunch," Baker said. "We can't keep doing this by committee. It is inefficient. … We need someone who can own this from cradle to grave." Email: amyjoi@deseretnews.com Twitter: amyjoi16
