Utah’s Great Salt Lake will disappear within five years if left alone, as a prolonged mega-drought and failure to refill it have caused water levels to drop 73 percent.
A coalition of dozens of scientists has urged the state to take “emergency measures” to save the Great Salt Lake, warning that the lake will be gone by 2028 if it doesn’t see a “dramatic surge” in flow within a year recorded.
In their report, which calls for a rescue, the scientists say the lake’s “disappearance could cause immense damage to Utah’s public health, environment and economy.
“The decisions we make over the next few months will shape our state and ecosystems throughout the West for decades to come.”
The dire warning comes after the driest summer on record caused water levels in the lake to hit historic lows amid a mega-drought that ravaged the West.
Scientists have warned that Utah’s Great Salt Lake will disappear in five years as water levels have dropped by 73 percent
Historically low water levels have exposed 60 percent of the lake floor amid a mega-drought in the west
Researchers said the lake will need 1 million acre-feet of water, or about 326,000 gallons per year, to reverse falling water levels. Pictured: A park ranger from the Utah Department of Natural Resources walking in exposed areas of the lake
The Great Salt Lake is known as America’s Red Sea. Pictured: the dividing line between the lake’s red and blue colored waters in 2021. The summer of 2022 was the hottest and driest for the region, causing water levels to drop further
According to the report, the Great Salt Lake has lost 73 percent of its water, with the lake now 19 feet below its average level as 60 percent of the lake floor is exposed.
Because the lake is shallow — about 35 feet at its deepest point — less water quickly leads to receding shorelines.
As more dry lake bed is uncovered, arsenic-laden dust could also enter the air, which millions of people breathe. According to the American Cancer Society, breathing high levels of arsenic can cause a sore throat, irritated lungs, arsenic poisoning, or even death.
The scientists said the lake will need an additional 1 million acre-feet of water, or about 326,000 gallons per year, to reverse the slump.
To expedite the rescue, researchers are urging Utah Gov. Spencer Cox to declare a state of emergency. They are also calling on the legislature to implement an emergency water protection measure.
The scientists warned that if the drought persists in the west, which experts say saving the lake would require a reduction in water use of up to 50 percent in the Great Salt Lake drainage basin.
Pictured: Dry lake bed along an abandoned dock in the Great Salt Lake in spring 2022
In March, a chair was placed on the south shore of the lake as the water level continued to recede
Pictured: Utah lawmakers and DNR chiefs walking past a mirabilite plume while surveying the lake in May
The report’s lead author, Benjamin Abbott, a professor of ecology at Brigham Young University, told CNN that the state of the lake today is shocking.
“It’s truly stunning and totally disarming to see how much of the lake has disappeared. The lake is mostly lake bottom at the moment.’
The receding water is already affecting natural wildlife and exposing nesting ground for pelicans, one of the many bird species dependent on the lake.
Jaimi Butler, coordinator of the Great Salt Lake Institute at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, told the Associated Press that pelicans, North America’s largest birds, usually flock to Gunnison Island, a remote outpost in the lake.
But the falling lake level has exposed a land bridge to the island, allowing foxes and coyotes to come over and hunt rodents and other food – scaring the birds into fleeing their nests, leaving eggs on the hatchlings to be eaten by seagulls .
Pelicans aren’t the only birds that rely on the Great Salt Lake: it’s a stopping point for many species to feed on their journey south.
Brine shrimp in the lake support a $57 million Utah industry, but in the years to come, less water could make the salinity too high for even these creatures to survive.
“The lake’s ecosystem isn’t just on the brink of collapse. It’s collapsing. ‘
Pictured: Deidre Henderson, Lt. Cmdr. gov. of Utah, looks over a mirabilite spring hill while surveying the Great Salt Lake
The declining water levels threaten to wipe out wildlife in the area as well as the local shrimp industry
Pictured: An American flag standing in an area of the lake that used to be submerged
Cox, a Republican, has asked people to limit lawn watering because residents have been diverting water from rivers that flow into the lake to water crops and tend homes for years.
The Great Salt Lake is fed by the Jordan, Weber, and Bäreneivers, which deposit about 1.1 million tons of minerals into it annually.
The scientists urging action say the governor has the right approach, repeating that conserving water is the best way to save the lake rather than just building new pipelines to refill it.
“We truly encourage everyone from the individual water user to the Office of the Governor and the federal government to focus on conservation,” Abbott told CNN. “This is the only way we can supply the Great Salt Lake with enough water in time to save it.”