The impetus of Speaker Brad Wilson’s Great Salt Lake Summit on January 5 centered around the need for better information on the cause and proposed remedies to address declining water levels of the saline lake.
“I’ve known the lake has been dropping but didn’t recognize until recently that the severity of the drop was starting to cause some pretty severe challenges,” Wilson said. He grew up next to the lake and now represents a House district that encompasses close to half the lake.
“But I’m the first to admit,” he adds, “like most Utahns, I’ve just taken for granted that the lake is okay and is always going to be there. And lo and behold, that’s not the case, the lake is in a bit of trouble.”
The Great Salt Lake’s water level sank to an all-time low last summer, revealing hundreds of miles of sunbaked lakebed encircling the remaining water. The lake is wide and shallow so any drop in the water level can expedite the receding shoreline.
It’s estimated that the water level has dropped over a dozen feet since Brigham Young and the Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley. The lake’s size is now roughly a third of what it was then.
The half-day summit last Wednesday in Layton featured an impressive list of political leaders, academic speakers, and state and local policy advisers.
Speakers highlighted the dangers confronting Utahns if the lake continues to dry up. University of Utah Assistant Professor of Geography, Dr. McKenzie Skiles stressed the varied and dangerous consequences of increased dust from the Great Salt Lake.
Dust collection in the Wasatch Mountain snowpack can fast-track spring run-off. Making it difficult to capture the water in the state’s reservoirs. Accelerated snowmelt will cause more to evaporate and potentially escape the region’s hydrologic cycle without being put to use.
The rushed snowmelt also disrupts the outlook of Utah’s ski resorts. The lake-effect powder the region is famous for might dimmish. Utah’s ski tourism’s booming industry generates close to $1.8 billion at the resorts and surrounding communities. Faster snowmelt combined with less lake-effect snow may mean fewer skiable days on the slopes.
Other speakers at the Summit highlighted the danger lower water levels pose to numerous migrating birds. As wetlands dry up and brine shrimp become less plentiful, birds will have fewer nesting and feeding opportunities on their flight crossing the state. Additionally, the future of the state’s multimillion-dollar brine shrimp industry will depend on the lake’s health.
The effects of continually dropping water levels are not fully known, but it is certain the lake’s ecosystem is at risk.
SOLUTIONS APPEAR AS CLEAR AS THE GREAT SALT LAKE’S MUDDY WATERS
Lawmakers and advocates alike have long been aware of the lake’s perilous conditions. The Legislature established the Great Salt Lake Advisory Council in 2010 “to advise on the sustainable use, protection and development of the Great Salt Lake.”
Wilson told Utah Political Underground that many members of the council were “instrumental in helping put the summit together” and in informing the legislature year to year of the changing conditions of the Great Salt Lake.
“We’ve been working closely with them, and I think we’re going to work a lot more closely over the next decade because this is a tricky and complicated issue,” he said. “This will require a lot of collaboration from different groups, including the legislature, local elected officials, and many others.”
The humble timbre of the Speaker’s voice denotes the gravity of the situation. No one answer will be the silver bullet and while many ideas are discussed among stakeholders, he wants to be sure they don’t become dead ends.
A COMPLICATED, MULTI-FACETED PROBLEM
The complexity of the Great Salt Lake’s declining water level is compounded by the lack of understanding of all the contributing factors. “We went over some data on [at the Summit] showing that the declining levels of the Great Salt Lake are being caused by the 20-year drought we’re in,” Wilson said, “and that’s a really big factor in the levels of the lake.”
The concurring two-decade-drought and record low shoreline is not a coincidence according to Wilson. The climate appears to have the biggest impact on lake levels. “But we are pulling water out of the Bear River and Jordan River which also contributes to the lake’s problems,” he said.
Tage Flint, general manager of the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District, told Summit attendees in a recorded video that water conservation is an important part of protecting the Great Salt Lake. “If we conserve too much to the point where we’re consuming all water without any return flow or much to the Great Salt Lake, we are going to impact the lake,” he said.
The Bear River is the lake’s biggest tributary, but an increasing portion of its water has been diverted due to housing development over the years. However, Flint doesn’t view future housing development as the greatest detriment to the lake. He was a different solution.
“We feel that it’s time to do statewide secondary water metering so that there’s accountability for all users,” Flint proposed. “It’s a simple matter of an informed customer is going to be a more responsible customer.”
Metered secondary water will certainly bring more awareness of water used by each household, but residential water use is only a small part. Agriculture is the state’s largest user of water and will make the greatest impact.
Representative Joel Ferry, R-Brigham City, spoke at the Summit both as a state representative and lifelong farmer. Agriculture water rights are some of the oldest in the state, according to Ferry, and demand regular usage by farmers. If they don’t use their allotment of water each year they could lose it.
Ferry is proposing legislation that will allow farmers to not use their water rights during times of drought in exchange for compensation from the state. “Water banking” by local farmers will help protect the surrounding environment, especially the Great Salt Lake.
AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION IS WORTH A GALLON OF CURE
Like Speaker Wilson, Ferry doesn’t believe any of the ideas at the Summit will solve the problem, but together with more study might provide some long-term solutions.
“Whenever we give lawmaker and policymakers good information about a challenge or a problem, they make good decisions,” Wilson said. He anticipates “a multitude” of ideas discussed this upcoming legislative session around policies to conserve water and study the effects on the Great Salt Lake.
“You’ll also see large appropriations going into programs around water metering, agriculture optimization, and getting more data on the lake to figure out what is happening,” he said. “It’s going to be a full-on effort to work towards solutions relative to the lake.”
Wilson is clear-eyed that the lake’s declining shoreline won’t be solved quickly but most continue to be a legislative priority for years to come. “I think this will always be a topic of discussion, and always be on people’s radar,” he said. “We have a conflict between the state’s desire to grow and continue to ensure this is a good place for our kids and grandkids to live, while providing water to the Great Salt Lake.”
“This is not a simple thing to fix,” Wilson said.
