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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is investigation whether wildlife watering troughs need to be made safer in the wake of a Vernal toddler drowning in one while on a family camping trip.
The devices, called guzzlers, collect and store rainwater and melting snow and deliver it through pipes to a trough. The state has about 700 of them.
Brentlee Evans drowned May 28 while the family was camping in the Book Cliffs area of eastern Utah. A search began when family members noticed she was missing and the girl's mother found her floating in the McCook Ridge Guzzler.
Guzzlers have been used for about 60 years.
"Nobody thought that this would happen," said Dean Mitchell, upland game-program coordinator for DWR, "My heart goes out to the family. It's just a terrible, terrible accident."
Mitchell said one plan is to check the guzzlers to see if any of the larger ones need protective covers.
In northeastern Utah alone there are about 150 guzzlers. Most consist of three parts: a collecting unit, a storage unit and a discharge unit.
The McCook Ridge Guzzler is 3 feet wide, 3 feet long and 21 inches deep. It is maintained by the Bureau of Land Management. Mitchell said there was no indication it was in disrepair.
There are no laws prohibiting the public from camping near the guzzlers, and Mitchell said none is needed.
"This is the first time I've heard of that a human was involved in an accident involving a guzzler," he said. "Certainly one fatality is too many to start with, but I don't think a law is necessary to keep people from camping near them."
Guzzlers are used to manage the population and enhance the survival of many birds, bobcats, antelope, deer, elk, bighorn sheep and cattle. They range in size from several hundred gallons to several thousand gallons. Most the water remains in underground storage tanks until it moves into the smaller troughs.
The DWR works closely with the bureau in placing the troughs throughout state.
Hunters often donate money and volunteer labor for installing guzzlers.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
