When I visited the Great Salt Lake in Salt Lake City, Utah two summers ago, all my son, Henry, and I wanted to do was to dip our toes into the briny water along the beach at Antelope Island State Park. I took off my shoes, and the two of us started walking.
We walked, and we walked, and we walked. The sandy beach turned to crystallized salt, hardened mud, and rock. In the distance, the water shimmered, or at least we thought it was the water.
“Just a little bit farther,” I assured Henry, who had wisely kept his shoes on.
The water in the distance seemed like a mirage, but we did eventually reach its new shore. The water lapped pathetically at our feet. The murky bottom that ought to have been under many feet of water was only a couple inches from the surface. Henry tiptoed in a bit. We stood and mourned what felt to us like the Not-So-Great Salt Lake.
What Happened to the Great Salt Lake?
Because the lake is located on a playa, it doesn’t take much to affect its water levels, and the extreme to exceptional drought conditions of 2022 severely impacted the Great Salt Lake. We visited the lake just two months before it broke records for its lowest depth and highest salinity in at least 100 years. At its lowest point, the lake measured just 890 square miles.
In 1986—when the lake was its largest—it measured 2,300 square miles.
U.S. Geological Survey. (n.d.). Daily streamflow data for site number 10010000. National Water Information System.
According to the USGS Great Salt Lake Hydro Mapper, a site that tracks the economic and ecological impact of conditions in the Great Salt Lake, “Human development and use of water in the watershed have caused a decline in Great Salt Lake water levels of 11 feet since the late 19th century. Lake level declines have been accentuated by recent drought in the 2000s.”
The nine-second-long timelapse of the lake’s levels since 1984 gives the impression of a lake trying to catch its breath, inhaling and exhaling, expanding and contracting, desperate for more water in an increasingly parched climate.
Great Salt Lake Surface Map Over the Years
U.S. Geological Survey. (n.d.). Great Salt Lake video. U.S. Department of the Interior.
The lake has recovered some since its low point in 2022, and there’s some hope for the lake in 2024 due to an above-normal snowpack during the winter months. Lake officials are cautiously optimistic.
“It’s still not healthy, but it’s closer to healthy than we have been at any time really since 2019,” Great Salt Lake Commissioner Brian Steed said. “We identified 4,195 (feet) as something we should aim to get to in the shorter term. We’re really happy to get there this year.”
Historically, the lake averages around 4,196 to 4,200 feet above sea level. When the waters decline, they expose toxic, arsenic-laden dust that pollutes the air and can cause diseases and other health complications.
Unfortunately, the lake’s levels aren’t just impacted by the amount of snow that accumulates over winter. Experts say that water consumption upstream of the lake accounts for about 67% to 73% of the lake’s decline.
A Daily Vigil for the Great Salt Lake
In order to advocate for the health of the lake and, by extension, the health of the surrounding community, members of the Latter-day Saints joined a daily vigil in 2024 during the Utah State Legislative Sessions.
People kept vigil for the Lake beginning on Tuesday, January 16 through the end of the legislative session March 1. Each weekday morning and evening they gathered, from 8-9 a.m. and from 5-6 p.m, and walked around the Capitol building. Individuals dressed up as brine shrimp, bugs, birds, and other species that call the lake their home.
Some of those who were gathered are members of the nonprofit Latter-day Saint Earth Stewardship, a group that focuses on the community and theology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but does not have an official affiliation with the Church.
They joined other area organizations in the vigil to support the Great Salt Lake, including Grow the Flow, Friends of Great Salt Lake, Making Waves for Great Salt Lake Artist Collaborative, and Save Our Great Salt Lake.
Latter-day Saint Earth Stewardship “represents a worldwide effort by members of Utah’s predominant faith to translate their church’s teachings on caring for God’s creation into action.”
Participants from this organization see advocacy opportunities like the vigil as a way to put their faith into action.
“The whole concept of Earth stewardship has to do with love,” Shelly Parkin shared in an article from The Salt Lake Tribune. “The people that are most adversely affected by climate change are the people on the margins and the Savior taught us to love everybody, especially the poor, and to view everybody as our brother and sister.”
Global Latter-day Saint Earth Stewardship Initiatives
Latter-day Saint Earth Stewardship isn’t limited to just the Great Salt Lake. The organization currently has 13 chapters around the globe, some of which meet in-person and others that meet online. The groups discuss environmental stewardship, share resources, discuss books, serve their local community, and advocate for local environmental needs like the one in Salt Lake City.
More and more Latter Day Saints members are discovering the power of pairing their environmental stewardship with love of neighbors. From planting mangroves in the Philippines to turning scrap fabric into quilts for children in Oakland, California’s Fred Finch Youth & Family Services, the various chapters have taken up causes that are both local and personal.
Through the vision and values of the Latter-day Saint Earth Stewardship, the organization imagines “a world where every Latter-day Saint is meaningfully engaged in honoring and caring for God’s gift of creation. We invite all to join us in restoring the earth as part of the ongoing work of the Restoration.”
2024 Legislative Measures to Protect the Great Salt Lake
Thanks in part to the LDSES chapter’s participation in the vigil, the 2024 Utah legislative sessions added more efforts to protect Utah’s water resources, building on two years of legislation that added nearly $1 billion in spending toward water conservation bills and appropriations.
Legislation passed during the 2024 session included:
- water efficient landscaping requirements
- creating professional development opportunities and resources from Utah Water Ways to be used in the K-12 public education system
- funding for long-term water planning needs
- parameters for responsible mineral extraction when the lake falls below healthy levels, ensuring that revenue from lithium and other mineral royalties are paid fairly to the state and used to help fund lake restoration efforts
- rewarding farmers for their conservation efforts by switching to new water-saving technologies through the agricultural optimization program
Access more of the recent legislative actions related to the Great Salt Lake here.
Copyright
2024
Root and Vine