The Great Salt Lake has dropped low enough that forced conservation measures will be enacted.
During a news conference on Tuesday, Great Salt Lake Commissioner Brian Steed — tasked by Utah political leaders with coming up with a plan to save the lake — told reporters that the lake has hit 4,192 feet on the south arm, "the last metric we measure to say now the lake’s really in trouble."
"That is not great news," Steed said.
The shrinking Great Salt Lake presents a public health and ecological crisis for northern Utah.
The lake helps generate snowpack, which provides drinking water. It is a refuge for millions of migratory birds. Billions of dollars of Utah's economy are also tied to the lake through mineral extraction and even the ski industry.
The lake's declines, as a result of water diversions and impacts from drought and a changing climate, lead to exposed lake bed and potentially toxic dust storms (arsenic and other minerals are naturally occurring in the lake).
Read the rest of the story at fox13now.com.
Great Salt Lake is at its lowest water level on record and continues to shrink. Utah Public Radio has teamed up with more than a dozen Utah organizations for the Great Salt Lake Collaborative, a group that has come together to share multimedia stories and rigorous reports about the lake and ways to protect this critical body of water before it's too late.
