Great Salt Lake Commissioner, Brian Steed reported that while lake levels are lower than he would like to see, the south arm has risen two-tenths of a foot since its lowest point in the month of October.
“Great Salt Lake, as of this morning, sits about at 4193.3 on the south arm, that's feet above sea level," Steed said. "And 4190.8 feet above sea level on the north arm.”
For context, in November of last year the south arm sat at 4192.4, slightly lower than this year and the north arm at 4191.5, slightly higher than this year’s elevation.
The lowest levels in recent years for both the north and south arms were recorded at 4188.5 in November of 2022.
As far as lake conditions this year, Steed did report healthy soil-moisture content.
“Soil moisture content is something that we watch very closely, because it's a good predictor of how runoffs will happen next year,” Steed said. “We have healthy soil moisture content throughout the Great Salt Lake Basin, in some areas, as much as 90% of like the top 90% percentile, and that's a really good place to be heading into when we start to get our large precipitation events now we need to have more snow and rain.”
Steed also shared that salinity levels are healthier on the south arm of the lake, which is essential to the Great Salt Lake ecosystem, particularly the health and survival of brine shrimp and brine flies.
“Through management actions, through the Great South Lake Causeway Berm, we have actually kept salinity levels in a much healthier position this year than we would normally see when with low lake levels, as we're seeing right now," Steed said.
Given these current lake conditions, Steed emphasized continued effort and focus on the lake, with particular mention of garnering public support and doubling phragmites mitigation efforts.
For Great Salt Lake elevation levels visit https://water.utah.gov/great-salt-lake-elevation/
