Great Salt Lake Poses Significant Threat to the Environment

As the Great Salt Lake continues to dry up, it has turned from a local concern to a global issue. Scientists are concerned that the lower water levels witnessed at the lake could become a catalyst for accelerating global warming if this trend continues.

Revered as a place of outstanding natural beauty, the lake has been a popular tourist destination for decades, with many people sailing, kayaking, and swimming in its waters. However, in recent years, scientists have warned that the lake is shrinking fast and having detrimental effects on the wider environment.

The use of water from the lake for agricultural purposes, combined with Utah’s bustling population and various other smaller factors, has resulted in the lake shrinking by up to 50% in as little as a few decades.

Researchers have already noted a significant drop in shorebird populations, such as snowy plovers and burrowing owls, as a result of the lake drying up.

Researchers working on behalf of Canada’s Royal Ontario Museum spent around seven months sampling emissions coming off the dried salty bed and realized the lake bed contributes a great deal more to global warming than initially thought.

“Human-caused desiccation of Great Salt Lake is exposing huge areas of lake bed and releasing massive quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere,” he said.

These include the release of harmful particles and dust into the air that spreads throughout the landscape, posing a serious threat to the respiratory systems of nearby human and animal populations.

“What our study shows is that CO2 emissions from the Great Salt Lake’s waters are probably very low, whereas emissions from the dried-up lake bed are very high, especially in summer months,” he said.

“Essentially, these exposed sediments are rich in organic matter that had settled on the lake bed, and now that they’re exposed to the atmosphere, it’s much easier for bacteria to turn that matter into carbon dioxide through their respiration,” he said.

They later compared the results with estimations of how much greenhouse gases the Great Salt Lake would have released if the water level had been much higher. They estimate that around 4.1 million tons of harmful gases were released in 2020, 94% of which were CO2.

“The best and maybe the only way to prevent this CO2 from being released is to ensure that the Great Salt Lake remains wet. In the western U.S., multiple proposed solutions toward this goal, including water markets, are being considered, and outdated western water laws are part of the issue,” Brothers said.

The study’s results highlight an often overlooked aspect of global warming. Hopefully, the researchers’ data will shed light on the negative side effects of poor water management in places like Utah and its potential impact on the climate.