We put as much thought into this lake as we did water

It only took a few months to fill the first phase of Oquirrh Lake. But it took more than four years to design the lake. "Over the past several years, we've studied a lot of lakes around the country," says Russell Sanford, Kennecott Land's Vice President of Land Development. "We've put more thinking into the design of this lake than any other I've seen."

Take the vehicular bridges that cross the lake, for instance. They're 26 ft. above the water, making them the tallest bridges of their type in the Western Hemisphere. Why so tall? To allow small sailboats to pass underneath. (Including the sailboats that residents can rent for free.)

Click here to visit the Oquirrh Lake photo gallery

Oquirrh Lake is an instrumental part of the community's water-wise landscape program, which was honored with a Governor's Award for Quality Growth by Envision Utah in 2002. The lake stores some of the water used to irrigate Daybreak's parks and open spaces. The bottom is lined with a tough, impermeable material that prevents water loss. And the water coming into Oquirrh Lake is filtered to such a high level of clarity that when you're out in your canoe, you can see at least four feet down in the water. So the water is not only good for irrigation, it's beautiful to look at.

One of the most challenging problems that we faced was how to keep storm water runoff from flowing into the lake and ruining the water's clarity. So we designed surrounding storm water basins to handle runoff.

We also sought the help of biologists to select fish species that would create a balanced, healthy ecosystem. In May 2006, 6,000 largemouth bass, 12,000 channel catfish, 30,000 bluegill and 160,000 fathead minnows were released. They're very happy here, growing and multiplying. More recently we added a number of rainbow trout. So if you come for a visit, bring your pole and your Utah fishing license.

We've put as much effort into the surrounding areas as into the lake itself, interspersing wetlands and areas of native plantings with manicured park spaces. Taking a walk around the lake will become more and more enjoyable as the various grasses, bulrushes, willow and other landscaping elements continue to grow and develop.

And to think, this is just the first phase. Two more phases will be completed over the next few years, expanding Oquirrh Lake to nearly double its current size.