Conservation: The Great Salt Lake

By Brad Wilson

Speaker of the House, Utah Legislature

The Great Salt Lake is more than just a lake — it’s an irreplaceable asset that directly impacts our state’s environment, economy and quality of life. This iconic body of water is at the lowest levels ever recorded, and action must be taken to reverse its course. Utah’s future will be dramatically affected if we don’t address our state’s water needs now.

What’s the problem?

Without continued effort, a drying Great Salt Lake threatens our environment and quality of life. An absence of lake-effect snow will diminish snow pack by 27 to 45 inches, further stressing a drought-strained water supply that our growing population and local agricultural producers depend on.

Even the dry lakebed itself presents a health crisis for the entire Wasatch Front as prevailing winds from the west blow dust laden with potentially hazardous concentrations of arsenic, lithium and zirconium across our most populous counties.

Our economy is also in danger. If the Great Salt Lake continues to recede, estimates show a drying lake could cost the state more than $32 billion over the next 20 years as we struggle to deal with the ramifications of the resulting disaster.

What have we done?

Earlier this year, I hosted the first-ever Great Salt Lake Summit to bring policymakers, scientists and water experts together to find solutions for the shrinking lake and our state’s water system as a whole. Since then, we’ve seen efforts from local, state and federal governments, the private sector, and individual Utahns.

My colleagues in the Legislature worked to pass several pieces of bipartisan legislation and approve historic funding, including incentives for drought-resistant landscaping and agricultural conservation and optimization. We abolished antiquated “use it or lose it” systems in favor of voluntary, free-market conservation efforts.

The Legislature appropriated funds to assess the quality and quantity of available water resources and passed legislation to push revenue that comes from the Great Salt Lake back into the lake. We also created the Water Trust, providing $40 million to increase flows to the Great Salt Lake, shore up watersheds and obtain water rights.

Our federal delegation — Sen. Mitt Romney, Sen. Mike Lee and Congressmen Blake Moore, Chris Stewart, John Curtis and Burgess Owens — brought the issue to the national spotlight and are working together to bring additional funding and support to Utah through the Great Salt Lake Recovery Act and

Speaker Brad Wilson, of the Utah Legislature, recently toured the Great Salt Lake with Utah Sen. Mitt Romney as part of Speaker Wilson’s efforts to find solutions for preserving the lake.

the Saline Lake Ecosystems in the Great Basin States Program Act.

Local governments played a huge role as they enacted ordinances to help conserve and optimize water in counties and municipalities. And, of course, Utahns all across the state stepped up to the plate and did their part to help in these efforts.

What’s next?

While good legislation is an important part of the solution, we also need to strengthen ties and communication between change makers at every level. On Oct. 13, I hosted the second annual Great Salt Lake Summit and once again brought together our brightest minds and top experts in search of solutions for better water management and actionable ideas for reviving our dying lake.

At the summit, I announced my intent to run legislation to establish a statewide, nonprofit, public-private partnership, Utah Water Ways, to create next-level public education, programming and policy discussions about Utah’s water supply.

Utah Water Ways will provide impactful tools to help Utahns understand why we need to conserve and how to become conscious water consumers. The partnership will strengthen the connection between water providers and their local users, allowing us to leverage the experience of a broad range of stakeholders including state and local government agencies, water suppliers, agriculture, business and environmental advocacy groups.

I am proud of the work we have done and the progress that has been made, but we still have a long way to go. Protecting and preserving the Great Salt Lake will take a continuous effort from each of us for many years to come. And, while you and I may never fully see the impacts of our work, this is simply a race we cannot afford to lose.