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toxic is required, and dust is required
Scientists sounded the alarm about the Great Salt Lake. Are lawmakers listening?
to recover from. At stake are millions of migrating birds, multimillion dollar lake-based industries, along with a toxic dust problem for the millions of people living near the lake’s shores. “We’re not at a time we can take another five or 10 years to...
January 18, 2023
'On my watch we are not allowing the lake to go dry,' Utah's governor says of Great Salt Lake
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water diversion, a changing climate and Utah's mega-drought. It presents an ecological catastrophe for northern Utah with toxic dust storms, reduced snowpack, impacts to wildlife and public health and a multi-billion hit to the state's economy. While...
January 13, 2023
Researchers, environmental groups call for 'emergency rescue' of Great Salt Lake
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climate to its lowest levels in recorded history. A declining lake presents an existential threat to Utah. There's toxic dust storms, decreased snowpack, billions in economic losses and the loss of habitat for millions of migratory birds and other...
January 11, 2023
Great Salt Lake set to vanish in 5 years, experts warn Utah lawmakers
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Utah has months to reverse the lake’s decline before it’s too late, according to a dire report. Days before Utah lawmakers are set to convene, dozens of researchers are calling on them to take bold action and save the Great Salt Lake before it withers...
January 5, 2023
Dear Legislature: Here’s what you can do in 2023 to save the Great Salt Lake
of property tax revenue to fund water infrastructure, treatment, and delivery.” Meanwhile, researchers have also found toxic dust is already blowing from the Great Salt Lake’s sprawling exposed bed, creating a public health risk to millions living on...
January 3, 2023
Reports call for more water saving measures and help for the Great Salt Lake
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and the environment. The report warned of the impacts of water levels dropping to new lows and the increasing threat of toxic dust storms. "Honestly we’re not seeing huge inflows into the lake anymore. That’s because humans are using a lot of it. As a...
December 15, 2022
‘We must do whatever is necessary’: Mitt Romney’s bill funding study of Great Salt Lake sails through Senate
Shriveling salty lakes across the Great Basin, including the Great Salt Lake, will receive millions to aid scientific assessment. A bipartisan bill meant to address declining saline lakes in the West, including the Great Salt Lake, passed the U.S....
December 8, 2022
Great Salt Lake levels stabilize — for now
drought and climate change. It has become an ecological and economic crisis for the state with reduced snowpack, toxic dust and impacts to people's health and wildlife. State leaders have reacted by enacting water conservation policies and funding to...
November 22, 2022
The Great Salt Lake’s ecological collapse has begun
to find a way to make the lake rise again, it faces major consequences now, including endangeredspecies listings and toxic dust storms. “To what extent have you lost a lot of important muscle tissue of your heart because you waited,” de Freitas said,...
November 20, 2022
Cox issues proclamation cutting off some water diversions to help the Great Salt Lake
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and climate change. Its decline presents an ecological and economic crisis for the state with diminished snowpack, toxic dust and impacts to public health and wildlife. State leaders have rushed to try to reverse the declines, spending millions on water...
November 18, 2022
New initiative aims to get people to 'fall in love' with the Great Salt Lake again
across the U.S. and Western Hemisphere. While state leaders work to find solutions to growing concerns regarding toxic dust and other issues with the lake, he is worried about what it means for the key habitat the lake provides for some 10 million birds...
November 18, 2022
Competing news outlets are working together to save the Great Salt Lake. Is it working?
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and hosted community conversations. You know all about the problems Utah faces as the Great Salt Lake flounders, leaving toxic dust under a thin layer of dried lakebed as the water retreats. Dangerous air quality. Collapse of industry. Suffering...
November 18, 2022
Students get expansive Great Salt Lake experience
about the Great Salt Lake and its impact on them and their communities. Junior Nayeli Lazareno said learning about the toxic dust from the drying lakebed was concerning. "It's scary, super scary. It's going to make our air pollution very bad," she said....
November 17, 2022
What role can history play in saving the Great Salt Lake, solving Utah's water woes?
and an extensive monitoring system," the Deseret News reported, as communities by the lake were exposed to similar toxic dust that the drying Great Salt Lake lakebed holds. The biggest difference is the number of people by the lakes — about 40,000 near...
November 16, 2022
Environmental group says changing Utah’s tax laws could put 20% more water in Great Salt Lake
impacts from climate change. It presents a significant public health, ecological and economic threat to the state with toxic dust, a reduced snowpack and impacts to wildlife and industries that rely on the lake. State leaders have rallied to try to...
November 16, 2022
Lots of options on the table for saving Great Salt Lake; but especially the simplest — use less water.
of no return to a healthy ecosystem. Utahns are becoming familiar with the long list of repercussions of a dying lake: toxic dust storms, imperiled bird populations, more than $1 billion in economic losses, a shrinking snowpack due to less “lake effect”...
November 8, 2022
Utahns will have to brace for 'painful steps' as Great Salt Lake shrinks
in its recorded history, having dropped this month to 4,188.9 feet. The impact of its decline includes reduced snowpack, toxic dust storms, harm to wildlife and human health and $1.3 billion in lost economic activity. "We are already seeing ecosystem...
November 6, 2022
Property tax bill could end a free ride for many water users in Utah's drought
SALT LAKE CITY — A major bill unveiled on Utah's Capitol Hill could dramatically change how water is paid for in the state. The bill was formally presented on Wednesday by Sen. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, who co-chairs the Utah State Legislature's Interim...
October 22, 2022
Namesake
collapse before our eyes—as microbialites are beached, brine flies and shrimp die off, and birds migrate elsewhere. Toxic dust released from the dry lakebed endangers people, too. Meanwhile Bonnie studies the lake and tracks its decline.
October 17, 2022
‘Just add water and stir’ — Owens Lake shows Utahns that even when salty lakes hit their lowest point, they can recover
in it.” The utility has since been charged with rehabilitating the 110-square-mile dry lake to prevent it from generating toxic dust storms. Crews have largely relied on water to do it, in the form of shallow flooding in bermed ponds. Once they turned...
October 12, 2022
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