Title: Great Salt Lake Faces Catastrophic Decline, Lawsuit Filed as Experts Warn of Impending Disaster
The Great Salt Lake, a vital ecosystem in Utah and a source of significant economic activity, is at risk of catastrophic decline within the next five years, warn experts. The dire situation has prompted conservation groups to file a lawsuit against the Utah government, alleging that excessive diversion of water for agriculture, industry, and other purposes has contributed to the lake’s rapid shrinking.
The lawsuit is built on the foundation of the public trust doctrine, which holds states responsible for protecting shared public resources such as bodies of water and lands. The plaintiffs are urging a district court in Utah to declare the state’s actions a violation of its public trust duty and mandate officials to restore the lake to healthy water levels. Failure to take immediate action could result in heavy metals and sediments from the drying lakebed being blown into the air, posing a severe health risk to residents and transforming the lake into a toxic dust bowl.
The Great Salt Lake relies on water flowing from various rivers and streams to maintain its water levels. However, more than two-thirds of the usual annual inflow of around 3 million acre-feet of water is being diverted for agricultural irrigation, industrial mineral extraction, and other purposes. Climate change has also worsened the situation by increasing evaporation and exacerbating drought conditions in the Southwest, accounting for about 10 percent of the lake’s overall decline.
Earlier this year, researchers issued a warning that the Great Salt Lake may vanish completely within five years if water loss continues at the current rates. Alarming statistics show that the lake has already lost 73 percent of its water and 60 percent of its surface area compared to historical levels.
Health advocates, including Brian Moench, president of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, fear that the Great Salt Lake could follow the same fate as the Aral Sea, located between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Once the world’s fourth-largest lake, the Aral Sea dried up due to extensive water diversions for agriculture, leading to toxic dust, water pollution, and a rise in respiratory illnesses, cancer, and other chronic diseases in the region. The drying lakebed of the Great Salt Lake has already resulted in deadly dust storms, and long-term exposure to air pollution poses significant health risks, including heart disease, lung disease, strokes, and cancer. The sediment from the dried lakebed also contains hazardous substances such as arsenic, mercury, lead, and nickel, which can impair brain function, hinder development, and cause cancer.
Beyond the health risks, the depletion of the Great Salt Lake would have severe economic and environmental consequences. The lake supports industries such as brine shrimp fishing and recreational activities, contributing to around 9,000 local jobs. Moreover, it even benefits Utah’s skiing industry by increasing annual snowfall through evaporation.
According to scientists and some Utah state officials, restoring the Great Salt Lake’s water levels would require reducing the amount of upstream water allocated for agriculture, mineral extraction, and other activities. However, critics argue that the state’s Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water Rights, and Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands have been reluctant to adopt measures that limit existing water use. Additionally, tribal nations, including the Ute, Shoshone, and Paiute nations, which have lived near the lake for thousands of years, have not been adequately involved in discussions on protecting the Great Salt Lake.
As climate change and human activities continue to deplete water resources, state governments like Utah’s are being held accountable for their responsibility to safeguard public waters. Attorneys at Earthjustice, representing the conservation groups in the lawsuit, stress the importance of reminding states of their obligations under the public trust doctrine as a means to compel action.
The fate of the Great Salt Lake hangs in the balance, and the outcome of this lawsuit will determine whether Utah takes the necessary steps to protect this invaluable natural resource.
