Great Salt Lake becoming the Great Toxic Dustbowl

[Samm]

@Orygun

What does this have to do with the fact that Utah is in desperate need for water from the lake for its water needs and is now considering extraordinary measures to save it from going dry?

Utah does not get fresh water from the Great Salt Lake. Hint. It’s in the name.

[Samm]

@Supreme_War_Pig

@bigtwnvin

Ok, how so? Pumping salt water into a salt bed is stupid? You are aware there are thousands of miles of pipelines that traverse the country carrying oil,gas and water correct?

No, building a pipeline from California directly to the Great Salt Lake is stupid.

Other than your opinion, what do you have to back that up?

[Samm]

@Orygun

@Rurudyne

You do realize that they do not actually take much if any drinking water from the lake itself, right?

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,

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/07/climate/salt-lake-city-climate-disaster.html#:~:text=Laura%20Briefer%2C%20director%20of%20Salt,island%20has%20become%20a%20peninsula.

Pave it. Problem solved.

[Supreme_War_Pig]

@Samm

@Supreme_War_Pig

@bigtwnvin

Regardless of the solution, in the case of the Great Salt lake? A pipeline from the Pacific to the lake should have been built years ago.
J’Biden and his ilk with their “shovel ready high paying union jobs” bull ■■■■ and the $$$ billions of wasted taxpayers money?

That would be phenomenally stupid.

Why? …

Because the whole state is in drought. All that money and effort would put water in at the end, where it can’t even be used. It would need to go into the watershed, and use the normal channels to fill the lake.

Next, what happens when the lake is filled? This enormous, multi-billion piece of infrastucture sits idle. Remember, the lake is not fit for fresh water storage

[Samm]

@Supreme_War_Pig

I bet the significantly smaller population plays a roll too.

Not really. The west was drier (in spite of its greater precipitation) than the interior of Alaska before white men ever laid eyes on the place.

[Samm]

@Orygun

@Samm

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.

That’s a different point.

[Samm]

@Orygun

Here ya go…

They should have done it decades ago … when it was much cheaper.

[Orygun]

@Samm

They should have done it decades ago … when it was much cheaper.

I would say the folly was trying to turn a desert into farmland. There just isn’t enough fresh water to provide for population, industry and ag.

[Samm]

@Supreme_War_Pig

@Samm

@Supreme_War_Pig

@bigtwnvin

Regardless of the solution, in the case of the Great Salt lake? A pipeline from the Pacific to the lake should have been built years ago.
J’Biden and his ilk with their “shovel ready high paying union jobs” bull ■■■■ and the $$$ billions of wasted taxpayers money?

That would be phenomenally stupid.

Why? …

Because the whole state is in drought. All that money and effort would put water in at the end, where it can’t even be used. It would need to go into the watershed, and use the normal channels to fill the lake.

Next, what happens when the lake is filled? This enormous, multi-billion piece of infrastucture sits idle. Remember, the lake is not fit for fresh water storage

You are conflating the problem of the shrinking lake with the problem of not enough fresh water. The two are not related except in that filling the lake with sea water would allow more water to be taken from streams that currently empty into the lake, and that increasing the area of the lake would increase evaporation which could be extracted for human use.

[Samm]

@Orygun

@Samm

They should have done it decades ago … when it was much cheaper.

I would say the folly was trying to turn a desert into farmland. There just isn’t enough fresh water to provide for population, industry and ag.

Folly? People have to eat.

[Orygun]

Sure…there’s other places to farm.

[Supreme_War_Pig]

@Samm

@Supreme_War_Pig

I bet the significantly smaller population plays a roll too.

Not really. The west was drier (in spite of its greater precipitation) than the interior of Alaska before white men ever laid eyes on the place.

You were making a city to city comparison.

@Samm

Fairbanks gets about 60% of the annual precipitation that Salt Lake does, yet there is no water shortage

The metro area population of Salt Lake City is1,257,936; metro Fairbanks is 100,605. Of course the population difference is a factor.

[Samm]

@Orygun

Sure…there’s other places to farm.

They are being farmed.

[Samm]

@Supreme_War_Pig

@Samm

@Supreme_War_Pig

I bet the significantly smaller population plays a roll too.

Not really. The west was drier (in spite of its greater precipitation) than the interior of Alaska before white men ever laid eyes on the place.

You were making a city to city comparison.

@Samm

Fairbanks gets about 60% of the annual precipitation that Salt Lake does, yet there is no water shortage

The metro area population of Salt Lake City is1,257,936; metro Fairbanks is 100,605. Of course the population difference is a factor.

You are wrong. The respective populations have virtually nothing to do with it. As I said, that situation existed long before either area was populated.

[Orygun]

@Samm

They are being farmed.

Yes.

Point being is that we have pretended that we can beat nature in a number of spots in this country, effectively overpopulating landscapes that don’t provide enough water for long term sustainability. The entire West is facing the limits of nature.

[Samm]

@Orygun

@Samm

They are being farmed.

Yes.

Point being is that we have pretended that we can beat nature in a number of spots in this country, effectively overpopulating landscapes that don’t provide enough water for long term sustainability. The entire West is facing the limits of nature.

So what are you proposing? That Utah should be vacated?

[Orygun]

@Samm

So what are you proposing? That Utah should be vacated?

Honestly my guess is that the Federal government (we the taxpayer) will have to face the cost of something like a Pacific Ocean to Utah pipeline in order to stave off a disaster of immense proportions like that.

[Samm]

So then, the cost will not be prohibitive.

Remind me, how much money have we sent to Ukraine so far?

[Orygun]

Well…sure. With deficit spending everything is possible…

[Samm]

The motto of the DMC.