Can Great Salt Lake be saved?

New analysis says Great Salt Lake can be saved, but not without great effort, and expense.



People Also Ask

Water experts say it's going to take more than one big year to fill the Great Salt Lake. SALT LAKE CITY — Ever since The Great Salt Lake hit its lowest water level on record in November 2022, concerns over things like arsenic in the exposed lake bed have only grown.

MORE DETAILS

According to a recent study by Brigham Young University, it's possible that Great Salt Lake could dry up completely in the next five years.

MORE DETAILS

So just how bad is it, really? A new scientific report warns the lake is on track to disappear in the next five years, unless water use is cut by as much as 50% annually.

MORE DETAILS

The lake provides major economic benefits The Great Salt Lake doesn't just benefit birds — it helps the economy. According to the Utah Division of Water Resources, the lake's annual economic output is $1.32 billion. The total labor income is $375.1 million and it's responsible for 7,706 jobs.

MORE DETAILS

Within years, the lake's ecosystems could collapse and millions will be exposed to toxic dust contained within the drying lakebed, unless drastic steps are taken to cut water use. A team of 32 scientists and conservationists caution that the lake could decline beyond recognition in just five years.

MORE DETAILS

Even in 'wet' years, conservation, policy changes are paramount to restore the lake
  1. Leverage the wet years.
  2. Set a lake elevation range goal.
  3. Invest in conservation.
  4. Invest in water monitoring and modeling.
  5. Develop a holistic water management plan.
  6. Request an in-depth analysis of policy options.


MORE DETAILS

Most recent data within water-surface elevations show a downward trend. With climate change and Utah's ever growing human population, we expect this negative trend to continue. In fact, it is estimated that the lake is 11 feet lower due to human diversions.

MORE DETAILS

The shallow bottom of Great Salt Lake supports a microbial carpet that harness the sun's energy through the process of photosynthesis. This carpet is made up of a community of microbes, including several types of cyanobacteria (also known as blue-green algae), algae and other organisms.

MORE DETAILS

Due to its shallowness (an average of 14 feet deep and a maximum of 35 feet deep), the water level can fall dramatically during dry years and rise during wet years. When snowpack melts in the spring, the lake usually rises about 2 feet. However, record snowpack in 2023 triggered a rise of 5.5 feet!

MORE DETAILS

Compass Minerals announced in 2021 it was seeking to extract lithium from the Great Salt Lake under a pilot program. The company, which has a plant in Ogden, said it was utilizing new methods of extracting the precious resource within the ambient brine of the Great Salt Lake.

MORE DETAILS

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — The Utah Division of Water Resources is sharing good news about the impacts all the rain is having on the Great Salt Lake, whose water levels reached a historic low last year.

MORE DETAILS

The state of Utah owns basically most of the Great Salt Lake, including Antelope Island, Fremont Island, Gunnison Island, the Ogden and Farmington bay wetland areas, along with the entire lakebed.

MORE DETAILS

Recreation in, and around, the lake The best place to swim or float in the lake is at Antelope Island State Park, where white oolitic sand beaches provide easy access to the lake without the brine flies that are prevalent on other areas of the shoreline. The beach area also has showers to rinse off the salty water.

MORE DETAILS

The precipitous drop in water levels, which has shrunk the Great Salt Lake's footprint by half in the last decades, stems from a two-fold problem: Climate change has decimated the mountain streams that feed the lake, while demand for that same freshwater has ballooned for new development, agriculture and industry.

MORE DETAILS

The record snowpack also helped salinity levels within the Great Salt Lake's southern arm drop to about 13.2% at nearby Gilbert Bay in June. It had climbed to nearly 19% at both the bay and the marina as the lake levels dropped, posing a threat to the lake's ecosystem.

MORE DETAILS

Yet the transformation is threatened: Because of overuse of water and climate change, the Great Salt Lake is drying up — and the Mormon Church is taking on an unusually public role to help save it. Last summer, the church began urging conservation and touted its water-saving efforts in the American West.

MORE DETAILS

A recent report suggests the lake could disappear within five years. In fall 2022, the Great Salt Lake hit its lowest water level since record keeping began. The lake's elevation sank to nearly six meters below the long-term average.

MORE DETAILS

However, the most deleterious effect of the Great Salt Lake drying up is that the air surrounding Salt Lake City could sporadically become poisonous.

MORE DETAILS

Already, the lake has lost 73% of its water and 60% of its surface area, as trillions of litres of water are diverted away from it to supply farms and homes. As a result, the lake is becoming saltier and uninhabitable to native flies and brine shrimp.

MORE DETAILS