The Great Salt Lake is dying, but these scientists have a solution

An alarming study published Last month in Environmental challenges He claims that nearly two-thirds of the Great Salt Lake’s shrinkage is attributable to human use of river water that otherwise would have fed the lake.

The Great Salt Lake in Utah is a remnant of a once vast lake that occupied the same location during the Ice Age. The lake level has fluctuated since then Measurements It began in 1847, but is about 75 miles (120 km) long, 35 miles (56 km) wide, and has a maximum depth of 33 feet (10 m). The water level in the Great Salt Lake has reached… Low register In 2021, which was rapist The following year.

According to recent research, about 62% of the river water that could have refilled the lake has instead been used for “human consumption.” The research team found that agricultural use cases were responsible for 71% of human-caused depletions; Furthermore, about 80% of agricultural water is used to grow crops to feed just under a million livestock.

“The research highlights the alarming role of water consumption for livestock feed in driving the lake’s rapid depletion,” said William Ripple, an ecologist at Oregon State University and co-author of the study. He releases.

The lake is no stranger to change. Utah State University is one a report He pointed out that the water level in the lake began to decline in the mid-nineteenth century. Such as the US Geological Survey Utah Water Science Center Reports indicate that the division of the lake by a railway bridge in 1959 significantly changed the salinity levels in the two halves of the newly created lake, and because the water body does not contain any permeable or inflowing rivers, water levels change dramatically due to evaporation or heavy rainfall. .

“An abnormally large influx of snowmelt during the 1980s and 1990s temporarily masked the long-term decline in lake levels, and the lake actually reached its highest level in more than a century in 1987,” Ripple said. “But it has declined by about 4 inches per year on average since then.”

The researchers proposed a goal of reducing anthropogenic river water consumption in the region by 35% to begin refilling the lake, as well as detailing specific reductions in livestock feed production.

“We found that the most effective solutions would involve a 61% reduction in alfalfa production combined with a 26-55% fallow in grass hay production, resulting in a reduction in farm revenue of $97 million per year, or 0.04% of GDP,” the team wrote. The team added that Utahns could be compensated for their lost revenue. It’s easier to propose on paper than it is to sell as a reality, but it’s a path toward recovery for the Great Salt Lake.

As the team added, the lake directly supports 9,000 jobs and $2.5 billion in economic productivity, primarily from mining, recreation, and brine shrimp fishing. Exposed salt lake beds (such as in the Great Salt Lake with low water levels) are also associated with dust, which can pose health risks due to its effects on the human respiratory system.

Currently, the average levels and volume of the Great Salt Lake continue to decline. But the team’s research has uncovered a specific pain point and suggested ways to reduce pressure on the large, but diminishing, body of water.