And deep. What is left is a shallow pond by comparison (only about 35’ at most these days, average is less than 15’).
As the drought continues and the relative surface area to volume remains high the lake is drying up faster.
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Yes. But if the Lake is allowed to go dry then the remaining stew of toxic minerals can get whipped up into dust storms that are extremely dangerous to nearby populations. To stave that off means allowing more snowpack water and river water to flow back into the lake instead of being used for residential, industrial or agricultural purposes.
For more on the matter,
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We’ll if you feel Republican Utah lawmakers are panicking I guess that’s your opinion. From the article:
….
Most alarming, the air surrounding Salt Lake City would occasionally turn poisonous. The lake bed contains high levels of arsenic and as more of it becomes exposed, wind storms carry that arsenic into the lungs of nearby residents, who make up three-quarters of Utah’s population.
“We have this potential environmental nuclear bomb that’s going to go off if we don’t take some pretty dramatic action,” said Joel Ferry, a Republican state lawmaker and rancher who lives on the north side of the lake.
As I posted earlier, this has already happened at another lake, and we know how its going go if something is not done.
Yup…
…
The stakes are alarmingly high, according to Timothy D. Hawkes, a Republican lawmaker who wants more aggressive action. Otherwise, he said, the Great Salt Lake risks the same fate as California’s Owens Lake, which went dry decades ago, producing the worst levels of dust pollution in the United States and helping to turn the nearby community into a veritable ghost town.
The words " wind blown carcinogenic dust" have a way of focusing the mind.
Interesting
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Similar story in AZ (minus the carcinogens)
I have not read all these articles
but in skimming them, they seem to confirm a popular Arizona narrative which goes
Allegedly
- The Saudis have bought or leased tens of thousands of acres in Arizona,
- They get a sweetheart deal on pumping water to irrigate them.
- They are shipping the grain and hay etc. grown there back to Saudi Arabia.
- It is bad for the environment and bad for the population of Arizona.
Yikes- hadn’t heard of that. Saudis basically using our precious water supplies to feed them. Not good…
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IN ARIZONA
The third driest state in the country.
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It’s interesting … Fairbanks gets about 60% of the annual precipitation that Salt Lake does, yet there is no water shortage here for man nor beast nor plant. Being naturally able to store most of the winter precipitation makes all the difference in the world.
The Israelis did that too, but they are experts at conservation of water.
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I bet the significantly smaller population plays a roll too.
Restoring the level (and thus the area) of the lake with sea water may have the added benefit of increasing rainfall as well. More evaporation (due to the greater area) would put more moisture into the air. It might require “seeding” to extract it, but what do they have to lose?
Why? …
Excuse me? The cost is the same regardless of where the money comes from.
It would be extraordinarily expensive for Utah to do this- tens of billions at the least? Its hard to imagine them having the money to pull it off without federal aid.
Not a problem. California imports much of their electricity from Utah.
Here ya go…
…
Utah Department of Natural Resources Executive Director Joel Ferry told the crowd that a pipeline would cost anywhere from $60-100 billion. That does not include environmental and regulatory hurdles to even make it a reality.
Speaker Wilson quipped it may be more of a “pipe dream.” Ferry said DNR was not setting aside any money right now for any pipeline.
