Troubling article about the imperiled Great Salt Lake

 

Excellent writing by Terry Tempest Williams in the New York Times, on the dire state of the Great Salt Lake in Utah.

I Am Haunted by What I Have Seen at Great Salt Lake

Some short excerpts are provided below.

"For 13,000 years, the lake has existed with no outlet to the sea, her large deposits of salt left behind through evaporation. Lately, evaporation from heat and drought accelerated by climate change, combined with overuse of the rivers that feed it, have shrunk the lake’s area by two-thirds. A report out of Brigham Young University and other institutions this year warned that the contraction has been quickening since 2020 and that if we do not take emergency measures immediately, Great Salt Lake will disappear in five years."

 

"Housing developments near Antelope Island and other shores of Great Salt Lake have grown beyond what is sustainable. Each new subdivision needs its own water lines; each home waters a green lawn. Gone are the miles of wetlands and fields bursting with meadowlarks, gone are the tangles of cattails where flocks of red-winged blackbirds rose as a vibrant dark cloud as they banked west to Antelope Island."

"Scientists tell us the lake needs an additional one million acre-feet per year to reverse its decline, increasing average stream flow to about 2.5 million acre-feet per year. A gradual refilling would begin. Two-thirds of the natural flow going into the lake is currently being diverted: 80 percent of that diversion by agriculture, 10 percent by industries and 10 percent by municipalities. Water conservation provides a map for how to live within our means. We can create water banks and budgets where we know how much water we have and how much water we spend. Public and private green turf can be retired. State and federal agencies must turn toward Indigenous leaders for traditional knowledge about watershed restoration and conservation.

But for Great Salt Lake to survive, we need to cut 30 to 50 percent of our water usage."

The heavy snow of the 2022-2023 winter has reportedly provided a short reprieve for the Great Salt Lake.  But if this window of opportunity is not seized, the lake's future is certainly in doubt.