However, as Director of Utah State Parks Scott Strong noted on Tuesday, it’s been hard for the lake to fulfill that promise the last couple of years.

“Often times, what we have is algal blooms — and they’re harmful algal blooms,” he said. “We have thousands — literally, thousands — of people who want to come and recreate at Willard Peak Pond here and can’t, which is so devastating.”

But, he said they were then approached with a potential solution.

“Last fall, EutroPHIX came to us with Rep. (Tom) Peterson and said, ‘Hey, we’ve noticed and read about this issue that you’re having at the pond and we may have a solution,'” Strong said.

Rob Nielsen, Standard-Examiner

This offer of help came to fruition on Tuesday as media, state officials and other interested parties were gathered at the Willard Peak Pond to witness a demonstration of an anti-algal treatment program that is being implemented by EutroPHIX on the pond.

EutroPHIX Vice President of Environmental Restoration and Advocacy Mark Heilmann told the Standard-Examiner that the treatment for algal blooms comes down to one major target — an over-abundance of naturally occurring phosphorus.

“We’ve worked collaboratively with State Parks to be able to implement a water quality restoration treatment of Willard Peak Pond,” he said. “It’s designed to address the excess phosphorus that’s available in the pond that’s driving the poor water quality … and the risk of algal blooms.”

Tuesday’s demonstration included a boat applying EutroSORB G — a phosphorus-binding material designed to lock up excess phosphorus in the sediment — to the lake as part of the demonstration.

“It’s lanthanum modified bentonite and it’s a well-documented strategy for binding up phosphorus in an aquatic environment,” Heilmann said. “In this case, it’s a proactive treatment in the spring designed to tie up that excess phosphorus in the system, allow that good summertime water quality and actually should be able to hold that improved water quality for many years, particularly if State Parks is able to implement some level of a maintenance program or other strategies to preserve the water quality.”

Rob Nielsen, Standard-Examiner

Candace Hasenyager, director of the Utah Division of Water Quality, said they’re excited to take a hands-on approach to restoring this body of water along with others that have endured algal blooms.

“Harmful algal blooms happen in Utah and they have been a persistent challenge,” she said. “Our primary tools have been vigilance and education — we monitor the water, we identify when a bloom is occurring, we test for toxicity and we issue advisories so the public knows when the waters are safe. Monitoring and awareness is critical for public safety, but ideally, we want to do more than tell people the status of the water. That is why today is so exciting. We are looking for innovative approaches to do more than just identify the problem and we are moving toward exploring and addressing ways to address it.”

Heilmann said this is the first treatment of its kind on a public water system, and while this project is being done free of charge, there are plans to tackle more anti-algae projects throughout the state.

“There is some early funding that’s been provided by the Legislature to Mantua Reservoir,” he said. “We’re still gathering the resources to do a full water quality restoration effort there, but there’s an initial step forward. After that, there’s other discussions of other water bodies the state has monitored that are impaired for nutrients and having harmful algal blooms.”

Heilmann said one of those projects could include Utah Lake near Provo.

Following the application, monitoring of phosphorus levels will continue throughout the summer. No closures of the Willard Peak Pond are anticipated.