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Sugar House Park pond set for major clean-up project

Posted at 11:12 PM, May 23, 2018
and last updated 2018-05-24 01:12:39-04

SALT LAKE CITY - Nearly half a million dollars will go into fixing the pond at Sugar House Park.

"It's a big process," said Clayton Scrivner, with Salt Lake County Parks and Recreation.

Signs that warn about Avian Botulism are posted around Sugar House Pond and seem to pop up at the end of nearly every summer when the weather warms up.

"It's not a problem unique to Sugar House Park," Scrivner points out. "The ducks and birds are eating the materials at the bottom of the body of water and that's when they ingest the problem."

Scrivner said the problem starts when dirt and mud flow down in the water from the mountain and end up in the pond in Sugar House. As it continues to build, bacteria in the dirt pushes closer to the surface. Birds pick at it and ingest it from there.

Avian Botulism isn't harmful to humans Scrivner said.

To fix the problem, for the first time in twenty years, they will dredge the pond and remove six feet of dirt.