The Great Salt Lake Is Dying, But These Scientists Have A Solution

A sobering lesson printed last month in Environmental Problems it is said that about two-thirds of the water in the Great Salt Lake has come from the way people used the water from the rivers that would have filled the lake.

Utah’s Great Salt Lake is a remnant of a large lake that occupied the same area during the Ice Age. Since then, the lake has changed a lot dimensions it was started in 1847, but it is about 75 miles (120 kilometers) long and 35 miles (56 km) wide with a maximum depth of 33 feet (10 meters). The waters of the Great Salt Lake took a hit low profile in 2021, that was take over the following year.

According to a recent paper, about 62% of the river water that could have refilled the lake was instead used for “anthropogenic use.” The research team found that agricultural use cases accounted for 71% of the population decline; In addition, about 80% of agricultural water is used to feed crops for at least one million head of cattle.

“This research shows the dangerous role of water consumption by feeding livestock in causing the rapid loss of the lake,” said William Ripple, an ecologist at Oregon State University and co-author of the paper, at the university. to release.

The sea is no stranger to change; One Utah State University report showed that the lake’s water level has decreased since the mid-1800s. As the United States Geological Survey’s Utah Water Science Center Reportedly, the merger of the lake with the railroad in 1959 greatly changed the salinity of the newly formed parts of the lake, and because the water has no outlet or inlet, its water level changes greatly due to evaporation or heavy rainfall.

“Extensive snowmelt in the 1980s and 1990s disrupted the lake’s long-term decline, and the lake reached its peak in more than a century in 1987,” Ripple said. “But it’s been going down about 4 inches a year since then.”

The researchers have proposed a goal of reducing anthropogenic river water use in the region by 35% to begin filling the lake, as well as detailing a reduction in livestock grazing.

“We estimate that the most aggressive responses would include a 61% reduction in bean production and a 26-55% fall in hay production,” the team wrote, “resulting in a $97 million annual reduction in agricultural income, or 0.04% of the state’s GDP. The team added that Utah residents can be compensated for their waste. It’s an easier plan on paper than selling people in reality, but it’s a way back to the Great Salt Lake.

As the group added, the lake directly supports 9,000 jobs and $2.5 billion in economic activity, mainly from mining, recreation, and brine shrimp fishing. Saline lakes (such as the Great Salt Lake’s increasing and decreasing water levels) are also associated with dust that can cause health problems due to its effects on human breathing.

Currently, the levels and capacity of the Great Salt Lake are decreasing. But the team’s research has uncovered a specific pain point and suggested ways to reduce stress on the big-but-smaller watershed.