Author Biography

Alexander Petersen is a freshman at Utah State University. He is from upstate New York where he grew up before moving to Utah where much of his family lives. He enjoys cooking food and reading in his spare time. He loves spending time outdoors hiking and camping. He is currently undeclared as a major and is exploring the many different courses available.

This essay was composed in February 2023 and uses MLA documentation.

The Los Angeles Times published an article the beginning of this month saying “The Utah Legislature began its 2023 session on Jan. 17. Its members have 45 days until the end of the session on March 3 to take action to save the Great Salt Lake from collapse. Scientists say waiting another year will be too late for the lake to recover” (Trimble). The lake’s importance to the environment here cannot be understated. I don’t think I can communicate the personal concern I have for environmental issues better than by examining and exploring them through essays like this. What I mean by this is that I intend to convey that personal passion through the content of the writing to you. The most relevant and pressing of these is the ecological collapse of the Great Salt Lake, as will be explained, which directly affects you and me. It could mean the death and displacement of the entire Salt Lake Vally.

From the Oxford English Dictionary, the word environment comes from a French and English origin. In its most basic form, it means to be surrounded by or an area surrounding something. In many contexts when it is called the environment it is talking about the natural surroundings of an area. In that sense it is often synonymous with nature. This has an almost intuitive understanding of separation between the thing surrounding something and what is encompassed. Like a foreign army surrounding a city. This separation is problematic when talking about the environment, meaning the surrounding nature, less touched by humans, because it can cultivate an idea that humans are separate from their environment. This is far from true as what affects the natural world affects the human population because you and I are part of the natural world. The reverse is also true, what affects the human population also affects the environment. This is immediately apparent with the Great Salt Lake drying up.

In the fragments of my memory, I remember going to visit the Great Salt Lake with my family as a kid. As we were visiting extended family, some of them came along too. We first visited some sort of museum or visitors center for the park. Information signs talked about how the sand wasn’t really made of sand on the bank. There were also plaques and information on the animals like birds as well as the insects that thrived off of the briny lake.

The insects, and brine shrimp are the food source of around 10 million birds that visit annually during migration (Flavelle). I had never been to that lake before, so I expected it to be like the ones back home, pleasant, wavy, a rocky or sandy beach with people swimming and boating on it. The natural environment is typically depicted in its more attractive light while the dangers are highlighted for warning and entertainment. The Lake itself is a foundation of the area’s economy, bringing in around $2.5 billion a year (Trimble). “Home to 2.5 million people…[the] megacity is possible because of a minor hydrological miracle. Snow that falls in the mountains just east of Salt Lake City feeds three rivers — the Jordan, Weber, and Bear — which provide water for the cities and towns of the Wasatch Front, as well as the rich cropland nearby, before flowing into the Great Salt Lake” (Flavelle). That population, which is sustained by this water, is expected to nearly double by 2060 depleting 80,000-acre feet of water (O’Donoghue).

The ugly side is unavoidable in the area of the Great Salt Lake I was in. It reeked like sulphur, rotten eggs, and wet garbage that had sat in a trash can for a long while. The grey film of ground leading to the water edge was, I remember reading, a mixture of bacteria, dead biomatter, larva, sand, and of course salt. Then there are the gnats that buzzed about a foot above the ground. They formed a wall of bug flecks that swarmed around the calves. As unappealing as this might have been these were essential aspects of its ecosystem. “Each of the migrating 5 million eared grebes that return to the lake each year eats 30,000 brine shrimp a day — for months. Half of the world’s population of Wilson’s phalaropes depends on the lake’s brine flies and midge larvae to take on fat reserves for their 3,400-mile nonstop migration to South America” (Trimble). The Lake was always very pretty from far away. And even from far away you could see the lakes edge was very near to the city line, driving on parts of I-80 headed southwest. Up close it had an unforgettable smell and lost some of its glamour but cemented a smellier memory in my mind. Environmental conservation is not just about saving the rainforests, it’s also about saving the small little shrimp that, if gone with the water, will dramatically affect human life. It is then in our best interest to protect our surroundings.

I have a much clearer picture of going to Antelope Island this summer. I was helping to chaperone a sixth-grade field trip. I’m not sure it can still be called an island when there is no longer water between it and the shoreline of the valley Salt Lake City is in. As reported by June of 2022 the Great Salt Lake shrunk by two-thirds (Flavelle). “This largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere is essentially a shallow saucer, with an average depth of just under 15 feet. Every one-foot drop in surface level matters. By the end of last year, the lake had lost 73% of its water and 60% of its area, exposing more than 800 square miles of lakebed sediments dense with heavy metals and organic pollutants.” (Trimble). According to another report the Lake will have dried up in under five years as of February 2023 (Larsen). Therein lay the key difference between my two memories, I was aware the second time of the catastrophe that is currently happening. “At its lowest level in recorded history, it is teetering at the edge 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” snow, and the list goes on” (Quinn). After seeing Bison and historical sites along the park, the troupe of school kids and chaperones visited a tall lookout where several things could be seen in the dip below. It was clear where the recent water level had been based on the piers and color of the surface. A brown-gray haze of smog could be seen stretching the whole length of the Salt Lake Valley. The actual water level could be seen receding out far from where it should have been. As well the water line was no longer right up against portions of I-80.

That smog could become deadly, and that is not hyperbole. An article published in the New York Times said the following. “The soil contains arsenic, antimony, copper, zirconium and other dangerous heavy metals, much of it residue from mining activity in the region. Most of the exposed soil is still protected by a hard crust. But as wind erodes the crust over time, those contaminants become airborne” (Flavelle). The same article showed the potential future of the Great Salt Lake through the example of Owens Lake in California which dried up, exposing toxic dust that turned a town into a ghost town. LA has since spent $2.5 billion trying to contain the worst source of dust pollution in the US. This can create air that is poisonous to breathe and may make the valley unlivable. If anyone you care about living there has asthma or is susceptible to lung-based illness, they are especially at risk along with the general population. This is on top of the inversion the valley already faces. Again, to ignore our environment is to shoot ourselves in the foot. That analogy may fall short if death is indeed the consequence.

We went to a separate area of the island where we could all walk out onto what once was a beach. The water line was far off, maybe half a mile, from the rocks that made up the land. This greatly extended the beach which was a mush that had stretches of solid salt crust and other things. There were also pockets and bubbles of softer mud-like ground that would envelop your foot if you didn’t pay attention to where you stepped. Of course, the smell was the same, only no more bugs of any kind, or water. This memory was much more depressing in making clear what the news had been reporting on; irreversible damage done to the lake. With this environmental collapse in mind, it is important to know there are still solutions available.

Last week a group of scientists called the Great Salt Lake Strike Team released a crucial report. Among many things, general solutions they named were to “Leverage the wet years, set a lake elevation range goal, invest in conservation, invest in water monitoring and modeling, develop a holistic water management plan, and request an in-depth analysis of policy options” (O’donoghue). The same article noted that the elevation goal has already been shot down by lawmakers. Earlier solutions suggested have been this one which is a bit more specific. “…Divert more water from rivers and streams, recycle more wastewater, or draw more groundwater from wells. Each of those strategies reduces the amount of water that reaches the lake. But without those steps, demand for water in Salt Lake City would exceed supply around 2040” (Flavelle). These particular steps have seen less discussion by the media. Another suggestion, that has a myriad of problems, keeps on getting circulated. The proposed solution would be a pipeline from the Pacific Ocean to the Lake.

The concept in one variation describes a 10-foot diameter pipeline of 600 miles. It would take 11% of Utah’s annual electricity use costing 300 million dollars a year to generate the energy. If it was pumped all year, it would only move a third of the 1.2 million water deficit (Larsen). Keeping in mind that the lake has lost two-thirds of its water, this doesn’t seem to be the best option. According to another report piping water would mean importing 500,000-acre feet of water through a 13.3-inch pipeline along an 800-mile route which would cost 100 billion and take decades to make (O’donoghue).

There is also the idea of tree thinning. If trees are cut down then it may allow more water to reach the lake, at least that’s the theory. The benefit is unclear and likely minimal. Multiple studies with different approaches concluded that there’s little evidence of increased water flow from this method. It does, however, have other benefits. It could reduce fires by removing over forested areas and non-native species. Mitigating forest fires would help as they adversely affect water quality and quantity (Williams). Cloud seeding is another proposed option of similar if not more immediately useful value. The idea is that a propane powered flame burns sliver iodine into the air increasing precipitation by up to 10%. It is reportedly environmentally safe although there was no evidence for or against that assertion in the article. Research from USU says this will only be a viable option till the middle of the century upon which climate change will have made it more limited (Winslow Utah). Outside of these are a couple more practical ideas that have been put out surrounding water conservation.

It is helpful to know that by far the largest water user is agriculture which takes 63% (Quinn). Of that water used by farmers around 70% goes to raising alfalfa hay that adds only 0.2% to Utah’s GDP (Trimble). Perhaps farmers and the state could encourage focus on other more useful resources.

Water saving farming technology is currently being incentivized and explored. Cuts to water supply and incentives to decrease water use are being carried out by the state. “Some areas like the Weber Basin have experienced up to a 40% cut in their water for irrigation this year” (Winslow Farmers). The same article explained how the budget from the state went from 3 million for farm incentives to 70 million in 2021. The Bear River Canal Company covers 68,000 acres and 126 miles of canals. They implemented an automatic gate system that regulates water flow. It can be remotely controlled and monitored by phones and removes human error. This helps save water and provides an even distribution to farmers sharing the water. It costs 7 million to manage the resource. They are also working on canal linings to prevent water loss (Winslow Farmers). The Bear River runs through the Cache Valley area making conservation on our part matter.

As this is Utah and the home of millions of Latter-day Saints there is also much the Church as an organization can do, as well as the saints individually, in water conservation. “A public records search submitted to the Utah Division of Water Rights revealed the church and its various real estate entities have active rights to about 75,000 acre-feet and 600 cubic feet per second of water in the Great Salt Lake Basin” (Stack). This article suggested that any of these not needed could be diverted to feed the lake. Theological justifications to support the environment, ideally not needing to be said, go beyond this papers scope. As they exist, I do encourage Latter-day Saints to seriously investigate their efficacy.

With so many different solutions, water conservation is the only way according to two dozen scientists (Larsen). From the Strike Team comes the information that 100-to-700,000-acre feet of water, saved through conservation, is needed to increase the lakes’ level by three years. They also advocated raising the berm which has now been done by the governor to deal with too high salinity levels in the south arm. This can dam off a portion of the lake to help prevent the destruction of the ecosystem (O’donoghue). If both people and agriculture conserve 20% of their water, it would increase the water going in by 14.8%. Residents of Utah conserved 9 billion gallons of water in the summer of 2020 voluntarily. Proposals such as a turf ban would get rid of nonfunctional turf and incentivize homeowners to remove their lawn. Nevada puts hundreds of millions more than Utah in turf removal. Sheri Quinn and Ben Winslow write in their article that Utah politicians are not stepping in to provide solutions even though Las Vegas has shown that voluntary conservation is not enough, and the government must issue new mandates and incentives. Nothing needs to copy Vegas exactly, but it provides a very good example to follow (Quinn). It is important to remember that the vast majority of the water diverted from the lake goes to agriculture. As much as you and I can do to prevent water waste in our homes, the government must also ensure that conservation is being done in the aspects that most need it.

From the data water conservation is most effective and takes top priority in terms of solutions. Cloud seeding and agricultural technology can also help. Tree thinning may also have a small indirect benefit. These should be the focus not only of the law makers but also you and me as citizens. Ideally reading this will be a waste of your time and everything in this paper will become irrelevant as the Great Salt Lake will be saved. That would be the ideal future; a delicate environment balanced between all the needs of the area where the impact we have is as beneficial as the impact the environment has on us. If we conserve water, then we might be able to pull this off. Regardless of what should have been done two or so years ago, imminent action is required now. Petitioning the state government and spreading the word and using as little water as can be, are all things that can be done by individuals. Money should not be an issue. The best solutions examined here will all cost less to fund than the loss of a 2-billion-dollar industry. If the state makes no conservation decisions by March, it may eventually ruin the lungs of people you care for who will live and breathe in arsenic laced dust. This can reasonably factor into death. Even if what happens is not so extreme an environmental travesty will occur leaving a barren expanse of salt where a great lake once was.

Works Cited

“environment, n.” OED Online, Oxford University Press, December 2022, www.oed.com/view/Entry/63089. Accessed 10 February 2023.

Flavelle, Christopher, and Bryan Tarnowski. As the Great Salt Lake Dries Up, Utah Faces an ‘Environmental Nuclear Bomb’. ProQuest, Jun 07, 2022, https://login.dist.lib.usu.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/blogs-podcasts-websites/as-great-salt-lake-dries-up-utah-faces/docview/2673615633/se-2.

Larsen, Leia. “Experts Say Pumping Ocean Water to the Great Salt Lake Would Cost a Lot but Help Very Little.” Great Salt Lake Collaborative, Salt Lake Tribune, 3 Feb. 2023, https://greatsaltlakenews.org/latest-news/salt-lake-tribune/experts-say-pumping-ocean-water-to-the-great-salt-lake-would-cost-a-lot-but-help-very-little.

O’Donoghue, Amy Joi. “New Analysis Says Great Salt Lake Can Be Saved, but Not without Great Effort, and Expense.” Deseret News, Deseret News, 8 Feb. 2023, https://www.deseret.com/utah/2023/2/8/23588664/great-salt-lake-water-drought-saline-ecoystem-policy-conservation.

Quinn, Sheri, and Ben Winslow. “Lots of Options for Saving Great Salt Lake, but Especially the Simplest – Use Less Water.” FOX 13 Salt Lake City, FOX 13 News Utah (KSTU), 20 Nov. 2022,https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/lots-of-options-for-saving-great-salt-lake-but-especially-the-simplest-use-less-water#:~:text=They%20voluntarily%20conserved%209%20billion,stabilize%20its%20increasing%20salinity%20levels.

Stack, Peggy Fletcher, and Leia Larsen. “How the LDS Church Could Prevent Its Headquarters from Becoming a Toxic Wasteland.” Great Salt Lake Collaborative, Salt Lake Tribune, 9 Feb. 2023, https://greatsaltlakenews.org/latest-news/salt-lake-tribune/how-the-lds-church-could-prevent-its-headquarters-from-becoming-a-toxic-wasteland.

Trimble, Stephen. Opinion: The Great Salt Lake is disappearing. Utah has 45 days to save it. ProQuest, Feb 04, 2023,https://login.dist.lib.usu.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/blogs-podcasts-websites/opinion-great-salt-lake-is-disappearing-utah-has/docview/2772393189/se-2.

Williams, Carter. “There Are Benefits to Thinning Trees — but It Can’t Solve the Great Salt Lake’s Water Woes.” Great Salt Lake Collaborative, KSL.com, 9 Feb. 2023, https://greatsaltlakenews.org/latest-news/ksl-com/there-are-benefits-to-thinning-trees-but-it-cant-solve-the-great-salt-lakes-water-woes.

Winslow, Ben. “Farmers Are Trying New Water-Saving Tech in Utah’s Drought.” FOX 13 Salt Lake City, FOX 13 News Utah (KSTU), 7 July 2022, https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/farmers-are-trying-new-water-saving-tech-in-utahs-drought.

Winslow, Ben. “Utah Looks to Expand Cloud Seeding to Help with Drought, Great Salt Lake.” Great Salt Lake Collaborative, Fox 13, 6 Dec. 2022, https://greatsaltlakenews.org/latest-news/fox-13/utah-looks-to-expand-cloud-seeding-to-help-with-drought-great-salt-lake.