Utah has no shortage of serious challenges. We need more affordable housing, stronger schools and continued progress on homelessness. All of these matter. But one challenge could ultimately dwarf the rest: the future of the Great Salt Lake.
For too long, we have treated the lake primarily as an environmental issue. It is much more. The Great Salt Lake is tied directly to Utah’s public health, economy, snowpack, air quality and our long-term ability to remain one of the best places in America to live and do business.
More than 10 million birds rely on the lake and its wetlands each year, making it one of the most important migratory habitats in the Western Hemisphere. Lake-effect storms contribute to our snowpack and help create the “greatest snow on Earth.” Brine shrimp harvested from the lake are used for food production around the world. Critical minerals are produced from its waters. Industries that depend on the lake support thousands of jobs and generate roughly $2 billion in annual economic activity.
We are only beginning to understand what losing it would cost.
Saving the Great Salt Lake is not simply about saving a lake. It is about protecting the Utah we want to leave to our children.
For thousands of years, runoff from our mountains has carried minerals and trace metals into a lake with no outlet, where they concentrate on the lake bed. As the lake retreats, more lake bed is exposed to wind. University of Utah researchers have identified arsenic, lead and other metals in lake bed dust reaching communities along the Wasatch Front. The long-term health effects are still being studied, but exposing hundreds of additional square miles of lake bed next to a major population center is not a gamble worth taking.
The economic exposure is also real. A shrinking lake threatens tourism, recreation, the ski industry and property values, while potentially increasing health care and dust-control costs.
Despite these challenges, there is reason for optimism.
In 2022, the Great Salt Lake reached the lowest level ever recorded. Today, it sits roughly 18 inches higher. State leaders deserve significant credit. Gov. Spencer Cox, the Legislature and state agencies have rewritten water law, invested hundreds of millions of dollars, improved water measurement and conservation, and begun the difficult work of getting more water to the lake.
In 2022, then-Speaker of the Utah House of Representatives Brad Wilson led the effort to create the Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Trust, which has secured more than 70,000 acre-feet of water for the lake.
In 2023, current Speaker of the House Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, and Sen. Scott Sandall, R-Tremonton, led a broad coalition to create the Office of the Great Salt Lake Commissioner to coordinate efforts across government, universities, nonprofits and industry.
Rep. Casey Snider, R-Paradise, and Rep. Jill Koford, R-Ogden, have helped negotiate reductions in industrial water use, protected water-right holders who conserve and created new tools to lease agricultural water for the lake. The Legislature has also given the State Engineer’s Office better tools to track and distribute water to the lake.
This progress is meaningful. It is also not enough.
Even with an average snowpack year, the lake will continue its decline. We cannot rely on extraordinary winters to solve an imbalance between the water flowing toward the lake and the water we consume upstream.
Agriculture represents the largest opportunity to find additional water, but farmers must be partners in the solution, not targets of it. Utah should invest alongside producers in efficiency and infrastructure so farms remain viable. And when water is conserved for the lake, we must make sure it actually reaches the lake.
Cities and homeowners have an important role as well. Most of the water we use indoors is treated and returned to the watershed. Outdoor water is different: much of it is consumed by lawns or lost to evaporation. We can keep our communities beautiful and green while using far less water.
Saving the Great Salt Lake does not require Utah to stop growing. We do not have to choose between a healthy lake and a growing population and economy. With smarter water use and the right investments, both can thrive.
No single bill or project will save the Great Salt Lake. It will take agriculture, business, conservation groups, foundations, government and individual Utahns working together.
The encouraging part is that this is a solvable problem. We know what the lake needs: more water reaching it year after year. Utah has the resources, ingenuity and leadership to make that happen.
Saving the Great Salt Lake is not simply about saving a lake. It is about protecting the Utah we want to leave to our children.
We cannot afford to find out what happens if we fail.