If the Great Salt Lake continues to dry up, here are some things to look out for.
The 10 million migratory birds that stop at the lake annually to feed on the tiny creatures are at risk of being killed by the lake's flies and brine shrimp. The resorts above Salt Lake City are important for revenue. Magnesium and other minerals can be found in the lake.
Salt Lake City's air sometimes turned poisonous. Three-quarters of Utah's population live within a mile of a lake with high levels of arsenic and windstorms carry that arsenic into their lungs.
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Joel Ferry, a Republican state lawmaker and rancher who lives on the north side of the lake, said that there is a potential environmental nuclear bomb that is going to go off if we don't act.
There are no easy solutions to the problem of Climate change. Saving the Great Salt Lake requires letting more snow melt from the mountains flow to the lake, which means less water for residents and farmers. State leaders seem reluctant to do something to protect the region from that threat.
As the country warms up, how quickly are Americans willing to adapt to the effects of climate change, even as those effects become urgent, obvious, and potentially catastrophic?
According to a Republican lawmaker, the stakes are very high. The Great Salt Lake is at risk of the same fate as California's Owens Lake, which went dry decades ago, causing the worst levels of dust pollution in the United States.
He said that the lake was not just fearmongering. It can be done.
There is a modern Oasis under threat.
You climbed into a car at the edge of the Pacific and drove east, tracing a line across the middle of the US. You would get to the Great Basin Desert of Nevada and western Utah after crossing the mountains in Northern California. One of the driest parts of America has a landscape that is almost gray.
Just shy of Wyoming, you'll find a narrow strip of green stretching 100 miles from north to south, home to an undisturbed metropolis beneath the snowcapped mountains. The Great Salt Lake lies between the city and the desert.
The Wasatch Front is named after the 12,000 foot range above it. Salt Lake City is home to 2.5 million people and is one of the fastest-growing urban areas in America due to the natural beauty and low cost of living.
It is possible because of a small miracle. Three rivers, the Jordan, Weber, and Bear, provide water for the cities and towns of the Wasatch Front, as well as rich cropland nearby, before flowing into the Great Salt Lake.
The system was in a delicate balance. In the spring, the river replenishes the lake and in the summer it drops about 2 feet.
The system is being thrown out of balance. Population growth diverts water from the rivers before it reaches the lake.
Robert Gillies is a professor at Utah State University and Utah's state climatologist. Higher temperatures cause more snow to turn to water vapor, which escapes into the atmosphere instead of turning to liquid. Increased demand for water for lawns and crops will result in less water reaching the lake.
Shrinking lakes mean less snow. When storms pass over the Great Salt Lake, they absorb some of the water, which falls as snow in the mountains. That pattern is at risk due to a vanishing lake.
Gillies said you don't have life if you don't have water.
The Precipice is referred to as 'At the Precipice'.
The water level in the Great Salt Lake fell to its lowest point on record last summer, and is likely to fall again this year. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the lake's surface area has shrunk from 3,300 square miles in the 1980's to less than 1,000 today.
In the past, the salt content in the part of the lake closest to Salt Lake City used to be between 9 and 12%. The salt content in the lake has gone up. The brine shrimp that eat it will be at risk if it reaches 18%.
"We're at the precipice, we haven't collapsed yet, but we are." It's frightening
The risks are worse over time. A professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Utah walked out onto the land that used to be underwater in March. The color of dried mud was what he picked at the ground.
Most of the heavy metals found in the soil are from mining activity in the area. A hard crust protects most of the soil. The wind erodes the crust over time.
People with asthma or other respiratory ailments are more likely to be affected by clouds of dust. The shards of crust were lying on the sand.
It is a disaster. The consequences for the system are terrible.
Growing fast while running out of water.
The fix is simple, let more water from the melting snow reach the lake by sending less to businesses and homes.
Salt Lake City doesn't have enough water to support it's population. It is predicted to grow by 50% by 2060.
Salt Lake City can increase its water supply in three ways, according to Laura Briefer, director of the public utilities department. The amount of water in the lake is reduced by each strategy. Demand for water in Salt Lake City would exceed supply by the year 2040 if those steps were not in place.
The city is using less water. It stopped issuing permits for businesses that need significant water in December of last year.
City leaders have shied away from using higher prices.
Salt Lake has the lowest per-gallon water rates in the U.S. It consumed 96 gallons of water per person per day last year, compared with 78 in Tucson, Arizona, and 77 in Los Angeles.
The Utah Rivers Council's executive director said that people should be charged more for water. He said thatPricing drove consumption.
Mayor Mendenhall declined an interview after being elected on a pledge to address climate change. She said that the city would consider pricing as a way to send a stronger message.
The lawns of homes around Salt Lake are lush and green. Sometimes it's not by choice.
When Elie El kessrwany stopped watering his lawn in response to the dry spell, his homeowners' association threatened to fine him. He was trying to do the right thing.
A bill was introduced this year that would have stopped communities from requiring homeowners to maintain their lawns. Local governments fought against the bill.
Other measures to address the crisis were approved in the state legislative session. They made it easier to buy and sell water rights and required cities and towns to include water in their long-term planning. Requiring water-efficient sinks and showers in new homes or increasing the price of water were not approved by lawmakers.
The future may hold what the future holds.
There is a worst-case scenario for the Great Salt Lake. It is on display in a valley at the edge of California where a lake used to be.
In the early 1900s, Los Angeles, growing fast and running out of water, bought land along either side of the Owens River and built an aqueduct to get their water.
Owens Lake used to be the main source of water thanks to the river. According to a 2020 study by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the worst source of dust pollution in America was the lake.
When windstorms hit the dried lake bed, they kick up PM10 which can lodge in the lungs and cause asthma, heart attacks and premature death. The amount of PM10 in the air around Owens Lake has been higher than the EPA deems safe.
Los Angeles was sued for violating the rights of nearby communities. The dust was ordered to be reduced by a judge. Twenty five years ago. Los Angeles has spent billions of dollars to keep the wind from blowing dust off the lake bed.
The lake bed has been covered in gravel. Water is sprayed on the dust to keep it in place. Constantly tilling the dry earth, creating ridges to catch dust before it becomes airborne.
An industrial site and a science experiment are mixed together. On a recent morning, workers scurried across the vast area to check valves and sprinklers that are plugged with sand. There are screens on the walls that alert the staff if something goes wrong. Dust could fly off again if the sprinkler flow is disrupted.
Dust levels near the lake are not always in line with federal safety rules. Owens Lake is shorthand for the risks of failing to act quickly enough and the grave damage if the lake dries up.
The shore of Owens Lake used to be the location of the town of Keeler. The town was a boom when the lake was there. There is an abandoned school, a train station, a general store, and a post office in the area.
Jim Macey said that he moved to Keeler because of cheap land. The time of dust was before Los Angeles tried to hold down the lake bed. When the wind blew in, he watched houses disappear from view.
Macey said that they called it the death cloud.
That's right.
By the numbers.
The lake had a high amount of salt last summer. The salt content used to be much higher. The algae in the lake will be in trouble if the salt content goes up.
Over the next 50 years, the population of Salt Lake City is expected to increase by 50%.
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