Latest news with #GreatSaltLakeStrikeTeam
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Toxic dust storm sweeps across Salt Lake Valley, hitting Utah's most densely populated areas
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A dust storm carrying toxic elements swept across the Salt Lake Valley last Sunday, impacting residents in some of Utah's most densely populated areas, according to an initiative from Conserve Utah Valley, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting and sustaining Utah's land and water. According to a Conserve Utah Valley initiative known as 'Grow the Flow,' the storm originated from the Great Salt Lake near Saltair and the Kennecott Tailings site. The plume of dust could reportedly be seen across the valley, affecting residents in Magna, Tooele County, and Salt Lake City's west side. According to the initiative, the event went unrecorded by the state's existing air quality network due to a reported lack of dust monitors along the southwest shores of the Great Salt Lake. These strong winds carry toxic contaminants like arsenic, lead, and lithium from dry sediment. The initiative said residents' exposure to these contaminants highlights Utah's growing public health crisis, as dust from the Great Salt Lake is reportedly linked to increased respiratory illnesses, cardiovascular diseases, developmental defects, and cancer. 'We often think of the impacts of Great Salt Lake dust on our public health as a far-off, distant future. The reality is that dust storms from more than one-thousand square miles of exposed lake bed are infiltrating our communities and impacting the air we breathe today,' said Jake Dreyfous, Managing Director of Grow the Flow. 'We must take proactive steps as individuals and as a state to get more water to Great Salt Lake, if we hope to avoid widespread impacts to our health, economy, and ecology in Northern Utah.' Great Salt Lake's South Arm elevation currently stands at 4193.4 ft above mean sea level, meaning the lake is only 40% full by volume. This reportedly leaves more than 1000 square-miles of lakebed exposed. According to Grow the Flow, below-average runoff and a hot summer may cause the lake to recede below 4192 ft. this fall. This will exceed the Great Salt Lake Strike Team's threshold for 'Serious Adverse Effects.' Utah lawmakers have reportedly recently approved funding to install more dust monitors around Great Salt Lake. However, of the $651,000 requested for Great Salt Lake dust monitoring and research, only $150,000 was granted. Grow the Flow said this is enough to hire a staffer at the Division of Air Quality, but not enough to install more dust monitors or provide real-time information to impacted communities. Nonetheless, the Division of Environmental Quality is reportedly working to install more monitors with the existing funds. 'We don't know what we don't measure,' Utah Division of Air Quality Director Bryce Bird told lawmakers during a recent hearing. Until Sept. 2024, the Great Salt Lake only had four PM10 dust monitors, none of which were within 10 miles of shoreline. While there are now six, there are still big gaps in the state's ability to track toxic dust events. 'We're deeply concerned about what the shrinking Great Salt Lake means for our families and communities. More frequent and toxic dust storms, like the one on Sunday, April 27th, are carrying dangerous pollutants from the lakebed and nearby tailings piles, putting our health at serious risk,' said Carmen Valdez, Senior Policy Associate for The Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah (HEAL Utah). 'Everyone deserves clean air and a safe future, and we're committed to fighting for solutions that protect both.' 3 injured after car catches fire following multi-vehicle crash Toxic dust storm sweeps across Salt Lake Valley, hitting Utah's most densely populated areas 2 Utah breweries win awards at 2025 World Beer Cup These US cities are being called the best places to live in the country, says a new study Life expectancy in southern states barely changed from 1900 to 2000 Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Why groups remain ‘deeply concerned' about Great Salt Lake
A dust event near Saltair over the weekend highlights how dust is still flying off the Great Salt Lake despite its recent gains, a local environmental group says. They add that it also highlights the need for more dust monitoring around the lake. 'We often think of the impacts of Great Salt Lake dust on our public health as a far-off, distant future. The reality is that dust storms ... are infiltrating our communities and impacting the air we breathe today,' Jake Dreyfous, managing director of Grow the Flow. The Great Salt Lake's southern arm is up to 4,193.4 feet elevation, nearly 1½ feet from its low point at the end of the last irrigation season, but a little more than 1½ feet below its peak last year. Its northern arm remains about a foot below the southern section, per U.S. Geological Survey data. With 8.7 inches of snow-water equivalent still left in the mountains within the lake's basin, nearly half of its peak this year, the lake could make some additional gains, depending on how much of that water ends up in it. Yet despite its gains, Grow the Flow points out that it remains only about 40% full by volume, leaving hundreds of square miles of lakebed exposed. A cold front that pushed through the region on Sunday visibly kicked up dust, which is often deposited in nearby communities. That's a problem because — as documented in a Great Salt Lake Strike Team report earlier this year — the dust can create a 'health hazard' from increases in particulate matter concentrations, as well as 'chronic exposures to carcinogenic elements such as arsenic.' 'We're deeply concerned about what the shrinking Great Salt Lake means for our families and communities,' said Carmen Valdez, senior policy associate for the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah, in a statement on Monday. State air quality officials aren't surprised by the recent event. They point out that 'unvegetated or disturbed soils' across the state have the potential to release dust in the air during wind events. Dry lakebeds, such as the Great Salt Lake, pose greater concerns because of the 'small size of the particles' and large surface area to pull from, said Bryce Bird, director of Utah Division of Air Quality. 'The conditions in the spring and summer are favorable for creating large dust events,' he wrote in an email to 'In the spring, the freezing and thawing of surface moisture can loosen the protective crust that may otherwise protect the surface from wind erosion.' Utah lawmakers ultimately set aside $150,000 in funds this year toward air quality monitoring, including ongoing funding for personnel. But that was below the $650,000 that the Office of the Great Salt Lake requested to help the Utah Division of Air Quality compile an analysis of dust issues by the lake. Brian Steed, Utah's Great Salt Lake commissioner, said last month that his office intends to help the division acquire the monitors through other means and set up a monitor 'distribution scheme' across communities near the lake or as soon as possible. This would help the state better understand where dust goes when it flies off the lake and other important datasets that can help the state manage dust impacts. He added that the state has been 'under monitoring' dust compared to other Western saline lakes with similar issues, such as Owens Lake or the Salton Sea in California. On top of state funding, Bird said the Utah Division of Air Quality received federal grants to acquire more particulate air samplers and 'low-cost' particulate sensors closer to dried portions of the Great Salt Lake. It's unclear how many sensors are needed to monitor its dust, but state officials plan to focus on communities east, north and south of the lake first as they build up a network. 'It would be helpful to have that baseline information,' Steed said. 'People want to know, and people want to know how much of a problem it is. Without those monitors, we don't have a full picture.'
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Opinion: Saving our children's lake
Metrics used to explain the health and future of the Great Salt Lake — salinity levels, acre-feet of water and square miles of dried lakebed — are often hard to understand. While these measurements help describe elements of the crisis we face, they can distract us from the most fundamental point. The only true metric that will determine the lake's future is our collective motivation to save it. The Great Salt Lake's decline is not an issue that can solve itself. We have caused the problem, and we have the power to reverse it. But will we? Our motivation is rooted in fundamental questions. How much do we love the place we call home? The future of the Great Salt Lake is inseparable from the future of our region. Its health is directly tied to Utah's viability as a place to live and thrive. Especially important is another set of questions: How much are we willing to do to protect those we share this home with, particularly our children? It is easy to claim we care, but are we willing to prove it through action? Whether we recognize it or not, the crisis of the Great Salt Lake is challenging us to examine our priorities and values. This simple truth is hard to face, but ignoring it doesn't make the problem disappear: the Wasatch Front faces an existential threat. The lake's demise will have severe consequences for Utahns from Logan to Payson. How we respond to this threat will be the legacy we leave Utah's children. Failing to act will interfere with their future. Many Utahns may not realize it, but a few good winters with above-average snowpacks have lulled us into a false state of complacency. While we should celebrate the blessing of good snow years, saving the Great Salt Lake will require much more than a few good winters. Consider a sobering technical point, one that has troubling implications for assessing whether we are doing enough. Scientists across the state (known collectively as the Great Salt Lake Strike Team) recently told state leaders that if we add 770,000 acre-feet of water to the lake every year, we would only have a coin flip's chance of saving the lake by 2054. The state's goal is just 250,000 acre-feet a year — less than a third of what is needed for even this fifty-fifty shot — and we are nowhere close to achieving that goal. On our current path, we have no chance of saving the lake. For the sake of our home, our future and our children, we must change course. The status quo is bleak. Beneath the lakebed, heavy metals and organic pollutants wait to be swept into the air and into our lungs. The list of toxins is long. Once inhaled, these pollutants can increase rates of chronic and acute diseases, including reproductive dysfunction, developmental defects, cognitive impairment, cardiovascular damage, cancer and more. Moreover, to kick us while we're down, if we let this toxic air get further out of control, who will want to live here? What will happen to property values and hard-earned home equity? It's not just people who will be affected, but also businesses. Utah will struggle to recruit and retain businesses as the region becomes less desirable. Jobs will flee, leaving significant problems with our local economy. If we act decisively, we will not have to choose between a future with two dismal options: stay and suffer or leave the place we love. This challenge may seem daunting, and that's because it is. Nevertheless, we do not have to live with such a dreary outlook. We know what the problem is and we know what to do. Feasible solutions exist to bring water back to the lake. All that's needed is political will. No shrinking saline lake in the world has survived. If Utah can rise to the challenge — when Utah rises to the challenge — we will accomplish something that has never before been done. With the Olympics coming, the world is watching. The communal industry of the beehive that has created a proud and prospering state is needed now more than ever. Everyone has a role to play. Conserve water within your stewardship. Contact your federal and state representatives, your mayor, your city council — let them know you care about the lake. Tell them why it matters for our home, our future and our children. Many good-hearted people do not understand the stakes of saving the lake. Start conversations with your neighbors, your friends and your family. Raise the issue in the institutions where you have influence, in your workplace, places of worship and other pillars of our community. The Great Salt Lake is asking us all: What kind of future do we want for our children? What do we want our home to look like? The way we answer that question is not merely with our words but in the actions we take and the path we choose.
