The Great Salt Lake in Utah has been drying up in recent years. Freshwater rivers that feed into the Salt Lake have been redirected for human use throughout the years. This, along with drought conditions and other global warming consequences, have led to a shrinking of the lake’s surface area by 44% from its historic high in the 1980s1. As the lake recedes, it leaves behind playas, or dry lake beds, which contain large amounts of arsenic and other toxic metals2. Under the appropriate wind conditions, dust from the playas is blown up into the atmosphere and into nearby residential areas3. This leads to toxic air and rain for surrounding communities.
The northwest side of Salt Lake City, the closest part of the city to the lake, has the most direct exposure to these airborne toxic chemicals. Thus far there is little study on the direct impacts on human health and wellbeing in the area surrounding the lake, but data from the EPA suggests that people living in the north-westernmost part of Salt Lake City is in the 95th percentile for asthma and the 86th percentile of lowest life expectancy in the country4. Asthma is often caused by exposure to chemical irritants, and airborne toxic chemicals are likely factors in this area. As the lake dries up and more playa is exposed, this problem will likely spread. The general population in Salt Lake City is more racially and ethnically diverse than the rest of the state. Additionally, if health circumstances become drastic enough residents will need to actively seek long term healthcare or permanently relocate. Although these conditions can affect everyone residing near the Great Salt Lake, those who do not have the financial resources to seek better health or relocate will be the most heavily affected.
Beyond the direct impact of airborne dust on human health, this dust also contributes to the drought by impacting the main source of freshwater in the area, snow melt.4 Dust causes snow to melt faster, this results with water shortages later in the year. To prevent a water crisis, more water is diverted away from the Great Salt Lake for human use. A positive feedback loop results due to the cycle of reduced lake size and further reduced snowfall5. While many other effects discussed here have not entirely come to pass, the consequences of water shortages are already visible throughout the region.
While dust is the most direct way that humans are impacted, it is not the only consequence. As the water level drops, the remaining water’s salinity becomes more concentrated, until the lake is saturated and the salt begins to precipitate out. Species such as brine shrimp and flies have abandoned or died out in areas where the salinity has reached saturation. The loss of these organisms has far reaching repercussions for the millions of migratory birds that feed off of them6.
There are also potential economic losses. Brine shrimp and mineral extraction are significant sources of revenue that rely on Great Salt Lake, generating roughly $60 million and $1.13 billion per year respectively6. This mineral extraction consists of pumping brine water into solar evaporation ponds, and already facilities have had to adapt to lower water levels7. As the lake disappears, so do these economic boons.
Although there may not be a specific scientific resolution, it is still possible to place preventive measures. Raising awareness about the consequences of the Great Salt Lake drying for the surrounding communities is a starting point. Information should be more accessible to all demographics, not just scientists. There is a barrier that exists between general vernacular and scientific literature, and it is important to find ways to bridge that gap. Integrating awareness in various age groups, especially in the educational system, could play a role in prevention.
(1) Null, S.E., Wurtsbaugh, W.A. (2020). Water Development, Consumptive Water Uses, and Great Salt Lake. In: Baxter, B., Butler, J. (eds) Great Salt Lake Biology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40352-2_1
(2) Kevin D. Perry, E. T. C., Sebastion W. Hoch. Results of the Great Salt Lake Dust Plume Study; University of Utah Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Salt Lake City, UT, 2019.
(3) Carling, G. T.; Fernandez, D. P.; Rey, K. A.; Hale, C. A.; Goodman, M. M.; Nelson, S. T. Using strontium isotopes to trace dust from a drying Great Salt Lake to adjacent urban areas and mountain snowpack. Environ. Res. Lett. 2020, 15 (11), 10, Article. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abbfc4.
(4) EJSCREEN. United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2022. www.epa.gov/ejscreen (accessed 2022.)
(5) Skiles, S. M.; Mallia, D. V.; Hallar, A. G.; Lin, J. C.; Lambert, A.; Petersen, R.; Clark, S. Implications of a shrinking Great Salt Lake for dust on snow deposition in the Wasatch Mountains, UT, as informed by a source to sink case study from the 13-14 April 2017 dust event. Environ. Res. Lett. 2018, 13 (12), 9, Article. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/aaefd8.
(6) Edwards, E. C.; Null, S. E. The cost of addressing saline lake level decline and the potential for water conservation markets. Sci. Total Environ. 2019, 651, 435-442, Article. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.09.006.
(7) Zhang, Y.; Hu, Y. H.; Wang, L.; Sun, W. Systematic review of lithium extraction from salt-lake brines via precipitation approaches. Miner. Eng. 2019, 139, 14, Review. DOI: 10.1016/j.mineng.2019.105868.
Further Resources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/07/climate/salt-lake-city-climate-disaster.html
https://wildlife.utah.gov/gslep/about/water-levels.html