Latest news with #BenAbbott
New York Times
09-05-2025
- Science
- New York Times
Quote of the Day: The Great Salt Lake Is Evaporating Fast. Could Utah Save It?
'The legislative and executive appetite to get water to the lake has absolutely evaporated.' BEN ABBOTT, ecology professor at Brigham Young University and the lead author of a 2023 report warning that Utah's Great Salt Lake could disappear in as little as five years.
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Group calls foul after Great Salt Lake dust monitoring fails to land in Utah budget
A storm that pushed through Utah early this week proved to be beneficial for the state's mountains, bringing in over 1½ feet of snow in some areas. Researchers say strong winds ahead of it also brought in 'a huge amount of dust' from the dried Sevier Lake in central Utah to the southern half of the Wasatch Front. It likely did the same for areas by the Great Salt Lake, said Ben Abbott, an associate professor of environmental science at BYU. Yet, he says it's unclear how much dust came off the lake or where it went because there aren't enough dust monitors around the lake to sufficiently study one of the largest concerns with low lake levels. That's why Abbott, also the director of a group called Grow The Flow, a Great Salt Lake-focused initiative led by the nonprofit Conserve Utah Valley, supported a $651,000 budget request that the Office of the Great Salt Lake Commissioner had requested to establish a network of dust monitors by the lake. That request, however, didn't appear in the state's proposed budget that totaled close to $30 billion released last week. 'We need monitors to be able to protect the people of Utah and know how serious of an issue this is,' he said. 'This is absolutely the top priority, in my opinion, of what we should be doing for Great Salt Lake.' Senate leaders say the budget has yet to be finalized. Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said on Tuesday it's 'on the list' of items still being considered before the budget is finalized by the end of the week. 'Whether it gets funded or not, I don't know,' he said. 'We're looking at it.' The funding request would allow the Utah Division of Air Quality to compile an analysis of dust issues, Tim Davis, deputy commissioner of the Great Salt Lake, told state lawmakers on Jan. 27. The Great Salt Lake Strike Team — a combination of state and university researchers — published a report earlier this year that highlighted where the lake's 'dust hot spots' are, many of which are by Farmington and Bear River bays. 'Great Salt Lake dust plumes can have a significant impact on local air quality and can reduce the snowpack in the mountains throughout the basin due to enhanced melt rates,' the report states. 'With more than 2.66 million residents living downwind of the lake, the dust poses a health hazard due to increased (particulate matter) concentrations or due to chronic exposures to carcinogenic elements such as arsenic.' But health consequences from the dust remain unclear, Kevin Perry, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Utah, one of the report's authors, explained at the time. He said a series of monitors would be vital to study the concentrations of dust ending up in communities all across the Wasatch Front, as well as the short-term and long-term impacts of it. Perry said none of the six existing monitors are 'significantly close to the lake,' and there aren't enough to study widespread community impacts. He added the state needs 'real-time' and 'filter-based' monitors to help study hourly concentrations and the composition of the dust to know if arsenic and other metals are coming into communities, and how much of it is. Abbott said it could also spark 'major tools' to manage lake dust, including a better understanding of what lake levels are needed to manage dust and creating new ways to forecast dust events. 'The first step to solve a problem is understanding how big it is. And until we measure what's coming off of Great Salt Lake, it'd be incredibly irresponsible to conclude that this isn't a problem,' Abbott said. '(The monitors) let us know how serious of an issue this is, and who is being impacted.' Senate leaders added that there are some other projects targeting the Great Salt Lake that did receive funding, such as the Great Salt Lake long-term water program project. Lawmakers allocated $1 million for now, although the governor asked for $16 million. They also allocated $4 million to the Deer Creek Intake Project, which includes an agreement to send 35,000 acre-feet of water to the lake through a release from Willard Bay, Sen. Scott Sandall, R-Tremonton, explained. 'There are some other pieces in there. We also have some money, internally, in the Great Salt Lake fund,' he said. 'I wouldn't say we slowed down, but we did some things maybe in a different way.' Abbott said he's happy that the lake will receive some help, but he also believes Utah's water spending is nowhere near where it should be. That's why he said he's disappointed that dust monitors failed to miss at least the initial budget request. He points to a Water Development Coordinating Council report last year, which warned Utah would need to spend nearly $60 billion to maintain drinking water, water quality and irrigation/canal needs across the state by 2060. A state audit found that the cost of mitigating Great Salt Lake dust could exceed $1.5 billion. 'The amount of investment that we're making to understand the impacts of Great Salt Lake and then fix them is woefully inadequate,' he said. 'We need to be thinking about this as a long-term investment in our way of life.' Contributing: Daniel Woodruff
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
How is the Great Salt Lake doing right now? A new ‘live' billboard will tell you
The Great Salt Lake remains over 5 feet below its minimum healthy level, and a water conservation group hopes that a billboard they've added along I-15 in Salt Lake County will help drive home that the lake still has a long way to go before it's out of danger. A new digital billboard message popped out last week in Millcreek, offering southbound drivers a 'live feed' of lake conditions, according to Grow The Flow, a Great Salt Lake-focused initiative led by the nonprofit Conserve Utah Valley, which is behind the project. A spokesperson for the group told last week it is still working with a billboard company to move the message closer to Salt Lake City after a 'mix-up.' They said the plan is to have the digital billboards in multiple locations along the I-15 corridor in Salt Lake County, rotating through updates and other messages about the lake. Ben Abbott, an associate professor of environmental science at BYU and the group's director, said the effort aims to bring awareness to the Great Salt Lake's low levels. 'No billboard can capture all of the details of the health of the lake, but just seeing the current lake volume gives Utahns a way to access the situation,' he said in a statement. 'Israel did this with the Sea of Galilee, and it really helped the whole community get on board.' The Great Salt Lake's southern arm rose back up to 4,192.8 feet elevation to start the week, according to U.S. Geological Survey data. Its northern arm is up to 4,192 feet elevation, as the gap between the two continues to shrink. This data will be included on billboards, updating as soon as U.S. Geological Survey and the Utah Division of Water Resources release new numbers. It will also feature other statistics such as capacity. The Great Salt Lake is often tracked by its water level elevation and not its natural capacity, as Utah's reservoirs are. Grow The Flow says this data will also be included by taking active measurements and dividing that by the lake's 'natural volume,' which isn't 4,198 or 4,200, but 4,207 feet elevation. Right now, the lake stands about 38% of that number. All of this will be boiled down into an 'easy-to-read graphic' for motorists driving by. 'We believe more transparency and visibility will empower Utahns to advocate for practical solutions and encourage our state leaders to take the necessary next steps to ensure the lake's rapid restoration,' added Jake Dreyfous, managing director of Grow the Flow. The lake has benefitted from recent storms, which have favored the Great Salt Lake Basin over many other regions in the state. Both its southern and northern arms have gained close to a foot of water since the end of last year's evaporation period. The southern arm peaked at 4,195.2 feet elevation — its highest point in five years — before losing about 3 feet during a hot and dry summer. More water is possible with a good snowpack. With recent storms, Great Salt Lake Basin's snowpack jumped back to 99% of its median average for this point in the season to start this week. It's higher than the statewide average of 89%. State officials say they're still working on solutions to get water to the lake. Yet, despite the lake's gains over the past two years, Grow The Flow leaders say its current levels are similar to 2021, the year before the lake reached its record low, which highlights how close it still is to repeating history. 'Great Salt Lake is at a critical tipping point,' Dreyfous said. 'While we've seen positive momentum in recent years, the work is far from over.'
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Billboards across Salt Lake valley show alarming health of Great Salt Lake
SALT LAKE CITY () — Driving along the I-15, Utahns will start seeing new meters highlighting the alarming health of the Great Salt Lake. , a Utah-based water policy and advocacy non-profit group, has placed billboards throughout Salt Lake County, live tracking the lake's water levels. As of Feb. 10, the meter showed the Great Salt Lake's water level at 38%, placing it just shy of 'critical' and bordering 'collapse.' Scientists and those advocating for the preservation of the Great Salt Lake have said that 4,198 feet is the minimum healthy level for the lake though its natural volume is 4,207 feet. The 38% reflected on the billboards on Monday compares the current lake level to its natural volume. Dr. Ben Abbott, a professor of ecology at BYU and Grow the Flow executive director, said the billboards help bring the Great Salt Lake – which is largely out of sight for most Utahns – into view. Bill seeks to ban planes from releasing chemicals for 'weather geoengineering' 'The first step toward solving a problem is awareness,' said Abbott. 'No billboard can capture all of the details of the health of the lake, but just seeing the current lake volume gives Utahns a way to access the situation. Israel did this with the Sea of Galilee, and it really helped the whole community get on board.' Abbott told that the work being done to save the Great Salt Lake is 'unprecedented.' He explained that there are hundreds of saline lakes all around the world and nearly all are in decline. 'There's not a single one that's been restored after it slipped into decline,' Abbott said. 'So, for our community to accomplish this really unprecedented pioneering act, we're all going to know where we are. And so, we hope that these billboards are just kind of something daily that you look at, you know, the way you would look at the weather.' Over the year, using data from the United States Geological Survey, Utahns will be able to see the small changes in the lake. Abbott said the billboards will reflect when the water levels go up during the spring runoff and when the levels decline during the hot summer months. Missing 14-year-old snowmobiler found after overnight search along Utah-Idaho border The Great Salt Lake reached and while helped alleviate the lake's declining health, Abbott said Utah can't rely on weather to save the lake. He said it would take cities, farmers, industries, and individuals each doing their small part to rescue the lake. But he likened the race to save the Great Salt Lake to a spring that is immediately followed by a marathon. 'We need a bunch of actions right now to get to the lake to a healthy level, and then long term, we've got to put in place the structural changes that we need to keep it in at a healthy range,' said Abbott. 'Great Salt Lake is a fixture of our community. It's a global landmark. Millions of birds come here, billions of dollars are produced by the lake, and, most importantly to me, it's a sign of our values and our commitment as a community to be caretakers over creation.' To learn more about the billboards and how they calculate the percentage shown, visit Connor Comeau contributed to this report. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
