by Jamie Belnap

STAFF WRITER

Stansbury Park officials have worked out a deal they hope will keep Stansbury Lake levels consistent throughout the year and improve the general appearance of the lake.

Stansbury Park Service Agency trustees will transfer water rights over to the Stansbury Park Improvement District for future management and protection. In return, the improvement district has granted the service agency use of other water sources that will ultimately improve the overall quality of the lake.

"We have been working with Stansbury Park Improvement District to move around water rights that will provide us with near-culinary water that's not good enough for drinking, but a lot better than what we've been putting into the lake in the past," said Scott Totman, Stansbury Park Service Agency trustee over lake issues.

In the past, golf course runoff containing fertilizer had gone into the lake.

Totman said until last week Stansbury only had partial-year utilization of wells under its jurisdiction -- meaning it could only pump water into the lake from these wells from April to October. This caused the water level of the lake to fluctuate drastically. The recent water-rights swap allows the service agency to turn over its rights to the improvement district in exchange for usage of other wells that can be pumped year-round.

"All we have to pay for is a little electricity," Totman said. "It's a win-win situation."

The new acquisition enables Stansbury to now pump round the clock from Test Well No. 1, located on the north side of the golf course. It is also working on acquiring additional funding to construct infrastructure allowing them to utilize an unused Erda well. In addition to these water sources, the park maintained its right to pump 12 hours a day every Monday from the Mill Pond from April to October.

Now with such an abundance of high-quality water daily feeding into the lake, Totman said, it will consistently be within three inches of the full level, which will result in other positive aspects.

"The residents will see a full lake, with good-quality water and good color, and we are hoping that that will keep the weed growth to an absolute minimum," Totman said. "I think this will give everybody what they want and then some."

Last year's record low water level conditions resulted in dead plant life along the shoreline, which was stinky and an eyesore, and floating docks resting on mud. Despite not being too happy about the conditions, some lake-front property owners tried to make the best of it by making it an opportunity to repair docks and tidy up shorelines.

"Last year was probably the worst we'll see in a decade," Totman said.

The poor quality water that was being piped into the lake last year from storm drains and golf course runoff was a huge contributor to the ever-present problem of algae. In rebuttal, trustees introduced Aquashade, a blue dye that helps to block the penetration of sunlight and stunts algae growth. A second dosage was administered yesterday as well. They also rerouted the poor-quality water through a piping system that runs under SR-138 and empties into a watershed near the Benson Grist Mill.

"I think Aquashade is going to be a standard for us," Totman said. "And, in the next five years, we may have water standing on the other side of the highway to enhance the environment and put to use for ducks. But it's not going back into our lake."

jamieb@tooeletranscript.com