The Great Salt Lake in Utah, in the United States, could disappear within five years if there are no dramatic cuts in water consumption, warns a report published this week by Brigham Young University.
The disappearance of the lake could cause great damage to public health, the environment and the economy of Utah. The measures adopted now will affect the state and ecosystems in the entire western region of the country for decades to come, the document highlights.
In recent times, the lake has lost 73% of its water and 60% of its surface. Less and less vital liquid flows into the natural reservoir, due to the fact that the sources that feed it are excessively diverted for the different activities of man.
The risks
“Unsustainable use” has caused the water level in the lake to drop dramatically, threatening to expose the toxic dust from its depths, and has raised salinity to scales incompatible with the food chains of the local ecosystem.
The decline of the Great Salt Lake, the largest in North America, has accelerated since 2020, losing an annual average of 1.48 billion cubic meters of water. To prevent its disappearance within five years, scientists propose to reduce water consumption by between a third and a half in 2023 and 2024. In this way they hope that the flow that flows towards the natural reservoir will increase.
“We are underestimating the consequences of losing the lake […]. Most Utahns do not realize the urgency of this crisis,” as the loss of saline lakes “triggers a long-term cycle of environmental, economic, and health suffering,” the report authors assert. Without a coordinated rescue, the disappearance of the Great Salt Lake will cause widespread air and water pollution, they warned.
