State resource managers remain concerned about a drying lakebed and evaporating water in the summer heat
The Great Salt Lake is hovering just above its record-low 2022 elevation, when it began to slide toward ecological collapse.
There is little relief in sight. A hot, dry summer has left Utah facing drought conditions statewide, with much of the Great Salt Lake’s watershed in “severe” drought.
“In truth,” Great Salt Lake Commissioner Brian Steed said at a media session Tuesday, “we’re sitting at, really, a scary low level.”
The lake’s south arm, home to the brine flies and brine shrimp that support millions of migrating birds each year, currently sits at 4,192 feet above sea level. The hypersaline north arm, where no rivers flow, sits at 4,191.6 feet above sea level.
A rock-filled causeway running from Promontory Point to the west desert has separated the two arms and causes their elevations to differ. A breach in the causeway allows fresher water in the south to mix with the north, but state officials have filled in the causeway in the past to slow spiking salinity as the lake shrinks.
Steed called the south arm’s current salinity levels a “silver lining,” since it still is at a healthy ratio to support the lake’s ecological functions.
The water gets saltier, however, as the elevation dips. If the south arm drops to 4,190 feet, state resource managers will again seal off the north arm by closing off the causeway.
But managing salinity doesn’t help the vast amount of exposed lakebed baking in the summer heat. A shrinking lake means increased dust pollution blowing through communities along the Wasatch Front.
Water only leaves the Great Salt Lake through evaporation, making its elevation rise and fall through the year, peaking during spring runoff and plateauing in late fall.
It will need to rise at least at least six feet to reach a healthy elevation for air quality, migrating birds, recreation and Utah’s economy, according to a Great Salt Lake elevation matrix developed by the Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lakes. The lake currently hovers at the brink of “adverse” conditions, where invasive phragmites dominate wetlands, salinity rises, boats cannot launch from marinas and mineral extraction companies struggle to pump brine.
The lake hit a record-low elevation in November 2022, when it dropped to 4,188.5 feet. The south arm’s water became so salty that brine flies — a vital source of food for millions of shorebirds and waterfowl — died off.
Steed called on Utahns across the watershed to take conservation seriously if they want to avoid setting another record low in the year ahead.
“We had pretty strong messaging in 2022 about the drought‚” he said. “It’s time for us to roll [that] out again.”
Steed also reminded water users that refilling the Great Salt Lake will take many years of sustained conservation. His 2024 Strategic Plan found that if Utah remains locked in drought conditions for the long term, the lake will need an additional 1.3 million acre-feet of inflows annually to reach a sustainable elevation in the next 10 years. That’s enough water to support more than 2 million households on the Wasatch Front.
