Question by Sergio Ramos, Murray area
“People using water,” said Sarah Null, a watershed sciences professor at Utah State University.
Water from the Bear, Weber and Jordan rivers would flow to Great Salt Lake without human intervention.
“We divert and consume a lot of that water,” she said, “we have a very small amount of streamflow going to the lake.”
The majority of the water, about 65 percent, is diverted for agricultural use, she said. Water efficiency in agriculture would help Great Salt Lake, according to Null. The state agriculture department recently awarded about $25 million to 140 projects under its water optimization grant program.
“But it can’t end there,” she said, “we need to make sure that as we implement conservation, for both agriculture and for urban uses, that the saved water flows directly to Great Salt Lake.”
Water flow to the lake wasn’t considered a beneficial use of water, according to Utah water law. However, the 2022 legislative session changed that.
“Now we can deliver water to Great Salt Lake. And it can remain there,” Null said.
—Reported and written by McCaulee Blackburn
