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PROVO - Brent Craghead has fished for Utah Lake catfish, not giving too much thought to the water's cloudy appearance or its smell.
"I haven't known it any different," Craghead, a Payson resident, said. The lake was just "different" from other fishing holes.
Then he saw a documentary about the lake on public television and was sickened to see how far the lake had fallen from its past glory and the fish that were gone or on the brink of extinction.
But there's hope that the damage from years of pollution and excessive carp can be undone.
The Utah Lake Commission is going to spend $210,000 to find out if the 150-square-mile body of water can be restored.
The commission approved a contract for writing a master plan. San Francisco-based URS Corp. will create, by November, a document to guide land use, natural resources and recreation at the lake.
Provo Mayor Lewis Billings, commission chairman, said past efforts to address lake issues usually stalled because of the competing interests of cities, environmental groups and water users.
"There were some who said this couldn't happen," Billings said after signing the document. "But we are doing it." The commission was formed last year, with state and local representatives, as well as water users.
Rick Cox, URS project manager and a Provo native, said the master plan will be unlike any other policy document because it will take a broad look and not be confined to only studying land-use policy.
The drafting process will involve three public meetings and creation of an Internet page to keep the public apprised and to seek comment.
For Cox, the job of writing the master plan is personal. He said his father's family lived on fish from the lake during The Great Depression.
"It is a great jewel. It has gotten a bum rap," the consultant said.
And, said Craghead, "I'm all for it."
Consultant hired to write a master plan to tackle pollution, carp
Does the solution to Utah Lake's carp problem lie in Iraq?
Reed Harris, director of the state's June Sucker Recovery Implementation Program, said that a humanitarian group in Minnesota has offered to take carp from the lake and deliver them in Iraq and other countries as food.
Harris said he was contacted by Mike Powell, of MN Direct Trade, who offered to remove 5 million to 10 million fish a year. Powell's group would send the fish to people in Iraq, Bosnia and the Baltic.
Harris said Powell told him that carp have been a part of the Iraqi people's diet, and that fish there today go for $4 a pound.
While the fish may be popular in Baghdad, Utahns have been strongly advised not to each too much of the Utah Lake fish because of PCB pollution. The state advised people to eat no more than four ounces of fish a month, while children and pregnant women should abstain.
Harris explained that the guidelines were based on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards, which are more stringent than U.S. Food and Drug Administration rules for fish.
"This fish is marketed all over the world," Harris said.
- Donald W. Meyers