The Slow Death of an Icon: The Drying Great Salt Lake
SALT LAKE CITY – The Great Salt Lake, the largest saltwater lake in the western hemisphere,
is an icon of the American West. Its banks are home to over a million people and over 330 species of migratory birds and brine shrimp in the trillions. Because of worsening climate
conditions like low rainfall and hotter summers, however, Northern Utah and Salt Lake City are losing their famous namesake by a few feet every year.
Salt Lake residents may know that concern around the lake is nothing new, but as Malcolm Araos from the Wilkes Center, a research collaborative surrounding the Great Salt Lake, explains.
“The lake now is in better shape than it used to be two years ago.”
This, paired with the Great Salt Lake Deputy Commissioners, claim that there are not necessarily toxic chemicals in the dust, like some are saying which may help allay the fears of those who have heard these alarming claims in the past.
In 1986, when the lake was at its historic high, it covered approximately 2,300 square miles of northern Utah and contained 30 million acre-feet of water. For reference, agriculture in the state of California annually demands about the same amount for use on farms.
Every year, the lake is expected to lose about 1.5 million acre-feet of water due to evaporation, though this has historically been compensated by snowmelt and rainfall, according to the Utah Department of Wildlife.
In recent years, however, due to worsening climate conditions and water intake missing the mark in compensating for evaporation, the lake has dropped to a worrying ~4,190 feet, and now covers about 15.3 million acre-feet; half of what it was in 1986.
This trend has not gone unnoticed by Utahns, and people like Deputy Commissioner Tim
Davis with the Department of Natural Resources are working around the clock to ensure that
there will be a lake in the years to come.
“The Legislature jumped into action in 2022, and in 2023, they created our office,” said Davis, adding that the move was in reaction to a particularly dire year for the lake in 2021. “That resulted in about 70,000-acre feet of contributions to the lake and created additional
opportunities to get water from voluntary agreements with mineral extraction companies.”
One such agreement, said Davis, was made with mineral extraction giant Compass Minerals. Compass Minerals, a mineral extraction company
,which draws water from the lake and extracts valuable resources like salt and magnesium. They use tens of thousands of acre feet per year, and the importance of the lake’s health is not lost on CEO Edward C. Dowling Jr.
“The Great Salt Lake is a vital ecosystem and economic engine that we must all work to protect, and Compass Minerals stands with the many diverse stakeholders contributing toward the preservation of this globally significant resource,” said Edward C. Dowling Jr., President and CEO of Compass Minerals.
The agreement dictates a partial or full shut-down of Compass’ facilities should the water fall to an unsafe level. This means that if the lake were to reach below the 4190.2 feet mark that it saw in 2021, the company would cease collection of water for mineral extraction purposes.
“The Compass agreement really does reset the playing field,” Davis said. “They’re now helping us find a solution.” referring to a 2024 agreement when Compass Minerals pledged not only to cease production if the lake reaches an unhealthy level, but donated an additional 200,000 acre feet to the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands.
Presently, no other company has entered into a voluntary agreement with the forestry division , but H.B. 453, proposed and passed during the 2024 Legislative session, provides “a tax incentive for companies to voluntarily reduce their water use based on the health of the lake through an agreement with the state,” according to a press release administered by the office of the Commissioner of the Great Salt Lake. Said tax breaks would mean reduction in taxable income so long as a portion of that income is returned to the state’s budget for ecological conservation.
The Great Salt Lake is a massively lucrative landform for corporations, but the responsibility for its health does not fall solely to those business interests.
“The big message of this is, it is going to take everybody,” Davis said. If all [people] around the lake can cut their water use…by 10%, we think that’s enough to change the trend from downward to finally ticking back up.”
Laura Vernon, the Great Salt Lake coordinator with the Utah Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, said understanding that a state-wide effort between businesses, the legislature, and all Utahns is key to reversing the crisis at the lake.
“It takes a village,” she said.
Vernon said another aspect of the lake’s conservancy has been driven by the public’s attention on the ecological, environmental and health impact and implications of a shrinking lake.
“There’s all these sessions on Great Salt Lake, whereas 10 years ago we would have to fight to get a spot at a symposium because people would ask ‘who really cares about the Great Salt Lake?’” Vernon said referencing a recent symposium held about the GSL.
Public interest has resulted in several grassroots organizations and conferences, and increased attention by the public has spurred the Legislature to fund projects like the
Department of Natural Resource’s Great Salt Lake Basin Integrated Plan, which is developing a tool through which inflow to the lake can be monitored in a more in-depth manner.
This will allow researchers to better predict and prepare for the impact of population growth and climate change on the lake. The monitoring tool should be finished by 2027, Vernon said.
Between statements made by Davis, Vernon, and Dowling, it becomes clear that the Great Salt Lake is not only a project for corporations, or citizens, but a strong alliance of the two. This alliance, tempered by the efforts of the legislature, assures that Salt Lake City and the surrounding townships will fight to keep their icon alive.