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    The Great Salt Lake is drying up due to water diversion and climate change. Conservation is key to saving it, such as using less water individually and improving agricultural efficiency. While snowpack was high this year, the lake remains far below optimal levels, so long-term solutions are needed like setting lake elevation goals and increasing transparency around water use. Pipelines from other sources are not viable due to cost and environmental risks. Ongoing collaboration and public involvement will be important to conserving water for the lake.

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    Neutral Blue Magazine Article Page 1

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    The Great Salt Lake is drying up due to water diversion and climate change. Conservation is key to saving it, such as using less water individually and improving agricultural efficiency. While snowpack was high this year, the lake remains far below optimal levels, so long-term solutions are needed like setting lake elevation goals and increasing transparency around water use. Pipelines from other sources are not viable due to cost and environmental risks. Ongoing collaboration and public involvement will be important to conserving water for the lake.

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    The Great Salt Lake is drying up due to water diversion and climate change. Conservation is key to saving it, such as using less water individually and improving agricultural efficiency. While snowpack was high this year, the lake remains far below optimal levels, so long-term solutions are needed like setting lake elevation goals and increasing transparency around water use. Pipelines from other sources are not viable due to cost and environmental risks. Ongoing collaboration and public involvement will be important to conserving water for the lake.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    60 views4 pages

    Neutral Blue Magazine Article Page 1

    Uploaded by

    api-670396715
    The Great Salt Lake is drying up due to water diversion and climate change. Conservation is key to saving it, such as using less water individually and improving agricultural efficiency. While snowpack was high this year, the lake remains far below optimal levels, so long-term solutions are needed like setting lake elevation goals and increasing transparency around water use. Pipelines from other sources are not viable due to cost and environmental risks. Ongoing collaboration and public involvement will be important to conserving water for the lake.

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    of 4

    The Great Salt

    Lake Is Drying Up
    Here's How We Can Save It

    The Great Salt Lake is home to immense


    biodiversity and a hub for human
    economic activity. Being the largest Saline
    lake in North America, it is essential for our
    health and the health of our ecosystems,
    but it is estimated that the lake has shrunk
    2,300 square miles since the 1980s
    (Flavelle 1). This has left many Salt Lake
    residents asking the question: how we are
    going to save it?

    Image: (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) ABC4 News

    Water Conservation Is Key


    In a recent study from BYU about the state
    of the lake, one of the highlighted solutions
    is water conservation. Not pipelines or
    cloud seeding, but simply using less water.
    This is the most cost effective and resilient
    Image: Grey Jensen method for ensuring enough water gets to
    What Does Water Conservation the lake (Abbott 2).
    Look Like?
    Water conservation ranges from individual
    to state levels. At the individual level,
    localscaping, turf removal, and sprinkler
    maintenance are all ways to save water. At
    the state level, "improvements include
    designating instream flow and sovereign
    lands as beneficial uses, more funding for
    agricultural efficiency, and enhanced Image: (Abbott 11) 2022 legislation concerned with
    monitoring of water use . These updates water conservation and rights
    allow farmers and other water users to
    leave water in the streams and rivers
    without losing water rights (Abbott 11, 21).
    Where Is Our Water Going?
    According to the Utah Division of Water
    Rights, "tens of thousands of farmers,
    individual,residences,large-scale
    agricultural operations, municipalities, and
    industrial operations divert as many as 2
    million acre-feet of water upstream from
    Bear River, Weber River, and Utah Lake
    and Jordan River drainages" (Alsever).
    Between water diversion and evaporation
    lake levels will likely continue to decrease.

    What Else Do We Need To Do?


    While this has been a record year for
    snowpack, scientists state that this year
    alone will not save the lake. Candice
    Hasenyager from the Utah Division of
    Water Resources says that "we have a lot
    of deficit to make up from this long-term
    drought we've been in" (Williams). There
    are multiple more steps we should
    consider to save the lake.
    Image: Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune

    This graph shows that even after relatively


    big snow years for Utah, the lake's levels
    have still been trending downward.

    Scott Paxman, general manager of Weber


    Basin Water Conservancy District,
    explained that “Even in wet years,
    conservation is crucially important, We’re
    still in a drought, we still have issues with
    the Great Salt Lake, we still have declining
    groundwater levels" (Larsen).
    Members of a research team from 1. "Set a lake elevation range goal
    agriculture, environmental quality and between 4,198 feet and 4,205 feet
    natural resources, at USU and the elevation (Williams).
    University of Utah highlight five main 2. Invest in water conservation to
    points for saving the lake. increase inflows or decrease
    withdrawals from the lake (Williams).
    3. Invest in water intelligence monitoring
    and modeling, so the state can be
    "more responsive and effective to
    challenges."
    4. Develop a long-term water resource
    plan for the Great Salt Lake watershed
    basin to "ensure a resilient water
    supply for all water users in the basin,
    including Great Salt Lake." The Utah
    Image: Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune
    Department of Natural Resources is
    The lake is still well below where it needs currently developing this.
    to be. Even if the snow pack is good this 5. Request in-depth analyses on policy
    year, it is not enough to get the lake to options, so that the Utah governor and
    optimal levels. Legislature can direct the Great Salt
    Lake Strike Team to study the most
    water-efficient, cost-effective and high-
    Why Can't We Build a Pipeline? return options" (Williams).

    Ideas such as pumping water from the


    Pacific Ocean to fill the Great Salt Lake
    have been floated around, but there are
    many issues with this. Not only is it very
    expensive and would take a long time to
    build, Lynn de Freitas, Executive Director
    of Friends of Great Salt Lake says, "A
    pipeline brings in basically different
    organisms that can have an impact on the
    ecosystem as we now have it, and that
    could be extremely problematic. This is
    something I don’t see as a good way to Image: Utah Business
    spend time, money, or resources” (Beers).
    Most Of All

    Most of all we need individuals andf


    communities to get involved. People from
    all walks of life; artists, scientists, writers
    and many more are encouraged to share
    information about the lake in formal and
    informal settings. Ben Abbott and many
    other professionals explain in a report
    stated that, “Perhaps the biggest deficit
    we have in facing this crisis is trust.
    Conservation measures have been taken
    throughout the watershed, but many water Image: Grey Jensen
    users and providers do not yet trust each
    other to shepherd conserved water to the
    lake. We desperately need transparency
    and shared sacrifice to reinforce trust and
    solidarity” (Abbott 24).

    Image: Grey Jensen

    Works Cited
    Flavelle, Christopher. “As the Great Salt Lake Dries up, Utah Faces an 'Environmental Nuclear Bomb'.” The New York
    Times, The New York Times, 7 June 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/07/climate/salt-lake-city-climate-
    disaster.html

    Abbot, Benjamin, et al. “Emergency Measures Needed to Rescue Great Salt Lake from Ongoing Collapse.” Plant &
    Wildlife Sciences, https://pws.byu.edu/great-salt-lake

    Williams, Carter. “What Can Save the Great Salt Lake? New Report Outlines Possibilities.” KSL.com,
    https://www.ksl.com/article/50573793/what-can-save-the-great-salt-lake-new-report-outlines-possibilities.

    Alsever, Jennifer. “The Great Salt Lake Is Drying up-and We Know Who to Blame.” Utah Business, 15 Sept. 2022,
    https://www.utahbusiness.com/what-to-do-about-the-great-salt-lake-drying-up/.

    Beers, Heather. “Not All of the Ideas to Save the Great Salt Lake Are Created Equal.” Utah Business, 11 Nov. 2022,
    https://www.utahbusiness.com/bad-ideas-great-salt-lake-water-level/.

    Leia, Larson. “3 Charts That Show Why Great Salt Lake Is Still in Trouble.” The Salt Lake Tribune, 15 Mar. 2023,
    https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2023/03/15/3-charts-that-show-why-great-salt/.

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