Why is the Great Salt Lake so smelly? That’s a trick question
American avocets feed in the shallows of Farmington Bay on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015. Around half of all American avocets in the world spend time on the Great Salt Lake during migration.
Joseph Peterson looks at brine shrimp during a class about the Great Salt Lake at Antelope Island State Park on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2015.
Great Salt Lake often evokes disdain from locals for its unpleasant odor.
BENJAMIN ZACK/STANDARD-EXAMINER
Cara Wright, 6, fishes for brine shrimp along the beach on Antelope Island State Park with help from Karen Roberson on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2015. Roberson, a Park Ranger Aide, put on a “beach basics” class to teach visitors about the Great Salt Lake.
Carla Trentelman, a Weber State University sociology professor, found smell was often the elephant in the room during her study of human relationships with the Great Salt Lake.
“What was really interesting to me, is that it didn’t matter where on the lake they were — in every interview I conducted, it seems the person felt obligated to comment on the smell,” she said. “Even if it was to say, ‘we don’t really have any problems with the smell fo the lake out here.'”
If smell is also what keeps locals from visiting the Great Salt Lake more often, it’s a shame. What most people call “lake stink” is actually human caused.
“The north end of the lake, it just smells like the ocean. It doesn’t have the funky smell at all,” Trentelman said. “When you’re on the lake, it doesn’t smell. It’s the area closest to Farmington Bay (that stinks).”
Wayne Wurtsbaugh, a at Utah State University limnologist (a scientist who studies inland waters), has spent decades studying the lake and its many complex interactions.
In 2001, he co-authored a paper, “The Great Salt Lake Doesn’t Stink…But Farmington Bay Does!” (link to pdf) But somehow, nearly 15 years later, the lake continues to get a bad rap.
“Fifty percent of the water going into Farmington Bay is treated sewage water,” Wurtsbaugh said. “So it’s not surprising that it smells.”
Three wastewater treatment plants ultimately discharge that water to Farmington Bay.
Not only is Farmington Bay extremely close to an urban area on the Wasatch Front, like Farmington and Salt Lake City, but the causeway leading to Antelope Island keeps the nutrient-heavy wastewater from escaping. Those nutrients feed algal blooms. The algae suck up all the water’s oxygen then die off and drop to the bottom of the lake, where bacteria then consume the organic material. The byproduct of all that is the rotten-egg smelling hydrogen sulfide gas.
Farmington Bay is also one of the shallowest parts of the lake. As wind blows across the bay, the waves mix the water and move the smelly gas to the surface.
In 2003, Wurstbaugh and a group of students conducted an “odor” survey all over different points of the lake, including Promontory Point, Bear River Bay, Antelope Island, Farmington Bay and the Great Salt Lake Marina on the lake’s southern tip. The only reports of strong or unpleasant odors came from near Farmington Bay.
But often times, the “lake stink” has more to do with the mind than the nose.
During Trentelman’s study, a sewage plant near Syracuse was malfunctioning and the issue was reported by the local news. Half of the Syracuse residents in her focus group knew the sewage odor wasn’t coming from the lake.
“These were neighbors, they all knew each other, but when the issue of smell came up, there ended up being some tension in that group between folks who knew it was the sewage plant and the folks who were like, ‘don’t be ridiculous,'” Trentelman said.
Contact Reporter Leia Larsen at 801-625-4289 or llarsen@standard.net. Follow her on Facebook.com/leiaoutside or on Twitter @LeiaLarsen.
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