Utah Confronts ‘Existential Threat’ of Vanishing Great Salt Lake

The clock is ticking to save the Intermountain West from an impending environmental disaster that could expose millions of people to dangerous sediments and collapse a keystone ecosystem.

The Great Salt Lake is on the brink of disappearing and turning into a bowl of toxic dust that could poison the air around Salt Lake City.

The lake—which has already shrunk by two-thirds—would be gone in five years without policy changes, scientists say, and making tectonic changes now is crucial to arresting the decline of water.

“It’s nothing less than an existential threat for people on the Wasatch front,” Utah Rep. Doug Owens (D), co-chair of the recently formed Great Salt Lake Caucus, said. “It’s not going to be a livable place if the lake disappears. I feel confident that we aren’t going to let that happen.”

Lawmakers have shot down some of what scientists call “common sense” water bills throughout the first month of the session, but they seem to be ramping up legislative efforts as the end of the session approaches, with a slew of water-saving bills up for consideration during its last two weeks.

Emergency Response Needed

Last year, the Utah State Legislature set aside $40 million toward conservation efforts and the US Congress passed two bills that provide $25 million to study and monitor vulnerable salt lakes in the Intermountain West—including funding an Army Corps of Engineers study on whether a pipeline from the Pacific Ocean to the lake would be feasible.

But the lake needs water, not studies, a group of scientists said in a call to arms on Jan. 4. The scientists called on Utah lawmakers, who are only in session this year until March 3, to implement emergency measures to save the lake.

The lake needs an additional million acre-feet per year to reverse its decline, meaning Utahns must cut their water consumption by 30% to 50%, said Ben Abbott, an ecologist at Brigham Young University who was the premier author of the study.

Photo Illustration: Jonathan Hurtarte/Bloomberg Law; Photos: NASA

Dozens of creative bills been introduced, including ones to increase turf buyback incentives and to appropriate money to require treated water systems—like for plumbing and drinking— in rural areas to implement water metering.

House Majority Leader Mike Schultz (R) introduced a bill Feb. 16 that would appoint a Great Salt Lake commissioner to coordinate state efforts and create a strategic plan to save the lake. The bill, which was passed by the House Feb. 24, also sets aside $40 million for conservation initiatives. Schultz wasn’t made available for comment.

Sen. Walt Brooks (R), chair of the House Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee, says the the bill represents a significant effort by both parties to save the lake, and he says he believes that the legislature has done more to address the problem this year than it ever has before.

“It’s looking pretty catastrophic,” Brooks said in an interview. “The reality of it is really sinking in. If we don’t do something now, we don’t get to guess what’s going to happen next year.”

Legislative Push

Utah lawmakers seem confident that the lake can be saved, despite nearing the end of a legislative session that environmental groups say hasn’t yet made much progress toward passing water-saving policies.

A bill that would set a goal to raise the lake’s water levels didn’t make it out of committee, despite widespread public support. Another that would require golf courses to disclose how much water they are using also didn’t make it out of committee.

The legislature designated the third week of its session as “Water Week,” but no water bills made any movement.

Brooks says that water bills have stalled or died because legislators are trying to balance competing interests in their districts.

But last week, half a dozen bills made their way before or through committees, signaling a last push by lawmakers in the waning days of the session.

Owens introduced a bill banning watering lawns from Oct. 1 to May 1 in the Great Salt Lake basin, which didn’t progress in committee. Rep. Casey Snider (R) introduced a bill, approved by committee, that would require mineral extraction companies to pay a severance tax to a fund for the lake. The House passed a bill cracking down on water-wasting landscaping.

Gov. Spencer J. Cox (R) has promised that the Great Salt Lake won’t dry up on his watch, and he has asked lawmakers to appropriate $561 million for water conservation, infrastructure, and planning. That request would include $200 million for an agricultural water optimization program to incentivize farmers to adopt new water-saving technologies to grow crops—agriculture makes up more than 70% of Utah’s water use.

“We’re confident we’ll see meaningful funding and policies from the legislature this session that will benefit the Great Salt Lake,” Cox’s office said in an email.

The state has already offered money to farmers to implement water optimization projects and to grow more water-efficient crops, but farmers have been slow to participate in the potential solutions.

“We’ve got tons of tools but there is a lot of mistrust and suspicion,” Abbott said. “There is an unprecedented low level of societal trust right now—even lower than the Great Salt Lake.”

Severe Consequences

Utahns are underestimating the consequences of losing the lake, which could prove to be one of the greatest environmental disasters in US history, Abbott said.

Arsenic, mercury, and lead would be exposed, provoking respiratory illnesses, cancer, and thousands of excess deaths from air pollution. The state would lose billions of dollars in economic damage, and losing the lake would collapse a vital ecosystem for migratory birds all over the Western Hemisphere—causing some to become endangered.

There is plenty of water in the watershed, researchers say, but the state is using it so inefficiently that the ecosystem can’t support it.

The task of saving an evaporating saline lake is not an easy one—in fact, no one has ever done it before. Saline lakes across the Earth have dried up, and in some cases, like the Aral Sea, have caused the wholesale collapse of settlements.

Scientists have called on Cox to step in and take emergency executive actions, like authorizing water releases from reservoirs to increase streamflows, offering compensation for farmers, and expanding water markets.

In November, Cox issued an executive order blocking any new water diversions from the Great Salt Lake, and earlier this month he issued an executive order to raise the lake’s causeway berm to keep snowpack in the south arm of the lake.

Cox’s office didn’t respond to questions about what actions the governor will take if the legislature can’t pass meaningful water-saving policies.

If Utah can’t fix the problem on its own, the federal government might have to intervene, Abbott said.

“The best time to pass legislation for the Great Salt Lake was 20 years ago,” Abbott said. “The second best time is now.”