5 Reasons Why You Should Give Your Attention to the Threat of the Great Salt Lake Drying

The Great Salt Lake used to be the most renowned hydrological feature in the State of Utah, but it is now under the threat of shrinking. The Great Salt Lake (GSL) desiccating is a multifaceted issue that is much more serious than the deteriorating health of the lake. The rest of this article will break down the scientific evidence of this issue and why you should care.

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1. Say goodbye to the "Greatest Snow on Earth."

A $1.6 billion ski tourism industry and a vital source of revenue for the State of Utah are the ski resorts above Salt Lake City located in the Little and Big Cottonwood Canyons. These ski areas are under threat of extreme variations of snow that is in part powered by the GSL. With the decrease of water levels in the GSL, this equals a drier lakebed as well as less “lake effect” snow that could mean earlier snowmelt and affect how long ski resorts can stay open.

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2. The Great Salt Lake drying up is a visible indicator of drought and overuse of water.

Water that would normally flow downstream to fill the lake is diverted to agricultural sectors, such as growing Alfalfa. Utah residents use more water per capita than almost any other state in the country according to Public Supply and Domestic Water Use in the United States, an open file report by USGS. Another report by University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s U.S. drought monitor map that updates the United State’s drought status every week said that Utah came out of the extreme drought it had been in since June of 2020 on March 30, 2023. The water rose after record-breaking storms that blanketed Utah’s mountains in snow last winter melted this spring, but a lot of that water has already evaporated by November 2023.

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3. The Great Salt Lake desiccating threatens ecosystems that migratory birds rely on.

Two hundred and thirty Migratory bird species that migrate from South America all the way to Canada’s Northwest Territories and beyond rely on the wetlands and surrounding mudflats of the Great Salt Lake. This is a vital habitat for 8–10 million individual migratory birds. The decreasing water levels in the GSL expose microbial communities that are normally underwater. These underwater reef-like rock mounds created by millions of microbes are the primary food source for brine shrimp and brine flies, the main food source for these migratory aquatic birds.

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4. As the GSL continues to dry up, heavy metal pollutants will be exposed to the atmosphere.

Every person that lives in Salt Lake City already knows of the problem of air quality due to how the mountains trap smog in an inversion that looms over the valley, and the threat to air quality could get much worse. The heavy metal pollutants, such as arsenic, that are contained in the playa of the GSL pose a risk to surrounding populations as the GSL continues to dry up. Lake Urmia in Iran was subject to similar water development to the GSL, just at a faster rate that caused severe ecological decline and the exposed lakebed threatened the health of surrounding populations via dust storms. Owens Lake in California once had a thriving community on the shore that dried up due to the development of an aqueduct diverting the river’s water to Los Angeles. Dust storms picked up particulate matter 10 micrometers or smaller from the playa of Owens lake that has been linked to worsen asthma, heart attacks and premature death in those exposed.

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5. The Great Salt Lake is set to vanish in 5 years, and your home with it.

A report by the Great Salt Lake Institute at Westminster College in SLC, UT, warns that the lake could dry up in the next five to seven years. The time that remains before the lake’s ecosystem collapses is disputed, but it is on the brink. There has been proposed policy, such as the science based assessment Great Salt Lake Policy Assessment alongside the creation of the position of the Commissioner of the Great Salt Lake has shown the response to this issue. These policies include but are not limited to setting a lake elevation range goal, investing in conservation, water monitoring and modeling, developing a holistic water management plan and requesting an in-depth analysis of policy options. There is also a lawsuit filed by a coalition of environmental groups meant to push Utah officials into action.

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The Great Salt Lake desiccating is not just an issue of losing a lake, but losing recreational activities such as skiing, ecosystems, biodiversity, air quality and potentially your home. This threat requires our attention and effort from individual to state levels.