An institution that has the word “lake” in its name — as this one does — might be expected to worry about the future of the body of water that gives this whole city, county and valley its identity.
But the loss of the Great Salt Lake would do a lot more damage than just making The Salt Lake Tribune and other similarly named entities look silly and out-of-date. And, as a recent scientific report makes clear, such a massive change in the local ecosystem is more than possible.
Unless, experts on the subject say, people upstream from the lake engage in a major cultural shift.
In other words, we must all stop using so much water.
We must either think seriously about how many more thirsty people can actually live here, or watch the economic development prized by so many screech to a halt when water becomes too expensive, too scarce, or both, to support one more housing development.
As an article by Tribune reporter Emma Penrod explained the other day, a new analysis concludes that water levels in the lake have basically been on the decline since the arrival of white settlers in the Salt Lake Valley 170 years ago.
The overall depth and width of the lake, of course, are affected by weather patterns, droughts and floods. But it is basically human activity — agriculture, housing developments and industry — that have caused the lake to decline to half of its historic size and top off some five feet lower in altitude.
Utah has always been a desert. It is suffering through a prolonged drought that will only be made worse by natural and human-caused changes in the planetary and local climate.
The Great Salt Lake, even in its current diminished capacity, is a haven for birds and other wildlife, a natural resource mined for salt, metals and brine shrimp and, perhaps most important, a trap for lead and other toxic materials that will return to our air as the waters recede and the winds blow the resulting unhealthy dust right into downtown Salt Lake City. (As if the air quality here weren’t bad enough already.)
If we want the lake to remain the prominent geological, ecological, economic and geographic feature of our land, we have to start taking care of it. Use less water. Charge more for it. Make people pay for the water they use though their — higher — utility bills. Don’t hide so much of the cost by paying for water infrastructure through property taxes — taxes from which large government and non-profit water users are exempt.
Give up on plans to build a series of dams and reservoirs in the Bear River system. Steer agriculture away from water-heavy crops that we can’t eat anyway, such as alfalfa.
The lake has been here for us. It is time for us to be here for it.