Advocates for the Great Salt Lake have fought for years to get pollution standards for the extraordinary body of water.

Now, many of those supporters are disappointed, even as a high-powered advisory panel is suggesting a cap on selenium pollution - the very thing they wanted so badly.

The proposed standard for selenium, though ground-breaking, is not high enough, the advocates say. Friends of the Great Salt Lake, the Utah Waterfowl Association and the Utah Wetlands Foundation are among the groups that say the standard the state adopts over the next few months should be tougher.

Maunsel Pearce, of the Great Salt Lake Alliance, pointed out that if the state adopts the proposed standard, selenium levels would not be considered toxic until they reach more than 12.5 parts per million selenium. At that concentration, probably one egg in 10 won't hatch but it's possible as many as 1 in 4 won't hatch.

"We should not allow any pollutant to increase enough to cause a 10 percent increase in bird mortality," said Pearce. "When the public thinks of clean water, they don't think of it as 10 percent toxic."

The new cap has been developed over four years by a steering committee made up of people who represent Kennecott Utah Copper, the brine shrimp industry, duck groups, environmental groups, government and other groups. An expert panel that Walt Baker, the director of the Utah Division of Water Quality, called a "selenium dream team," based its suggestion for a cap on specially gathered data and from studies that have been done elsewhere.

The science advisers have had their task made more difficult by the general lack of understanding about selenium in the Great Salt Lake and its impact on the wildlife. Formulating a selenium standard has taken years and cost more than $2.6 million.

Meanwhile, Utah is a natural hot spot for selenium, which builds up in the food chain. It is a trace mineral needed for good health but that can harm people and wildlife.

A majority of the science panel members supported the new standard, saying they are conservative because they are based on mallard eggs, which are more sensitive than a number of other species.

It became an issue of public concern years ago when state regulators were asked for permission to discharge additional selenium into the Jordan River from the groundwater cleanup on the west side of the Salt Lake Valley.

The selenium-in-eggs standard will be used to help state water regulators set limits for the amount of selenium that sewer districts and industry can discharge into the lake.

fahys@sltrib.com

Selenium is a naturally occurring mineral that can concentrate in the water. Toxic levels at the Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge in California led to fish and bird kills, and caused birds to be born with deformities that included having no eyes and feet and protruding brains. In small amounts, it is good for health. Toxic levels can lead to neurological problems, brittle hair and deformed nails. Breathing selenium vapors in the workplace can cause dizziness, fatigue, irritation of mucous membranes, and respiratory effects.

www.deq.utah.gov/Issues/GSL WQSC/selenium.htm.