Scientists fear a Great Toxic Dustbowl could soon emerge from the Great Salt Lake
[link:https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/10/us/utah-great-salt-lake-dust-pollution-weir-wxc/index.html|
By Bill Weir, CNN Chief Climate Correspondent
Updated 8:33 AM EST, Fri February 10, 2023
On the shore of Great Salt Lake, Utah CNN —
Like the rest of the West, Utah has a water problem. But megadrought and overconsumption aren’t just threats to wildlife, agriculture and industry here. A disappearing Great Salt Lake could poison the lungs of more than 2.5 million people.
When lake levels hit historic lows in recent months, 800 square miles of lakebed were exposed – soil that holds centuries of natural and manmade toxins like mercury, arsenic and selenium. As that mud turns to dust and swirls to join some of the worst winter air pollution in the nation, scientists warn that the massive body of water could evaporate into a system of lifeless finger lakes within five years, on its way to becoming the Great Toxic Dustbowl.
“This is an ecological disaster that will become a human health disaster,” warned Bonnie Baxter, director of the Great Salt Lake Institute at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah. “We know about dust storms, we know about particulate pollution, we know about heavy metals and how they’re bad for humans,” she told CNN. “We see a crisis that is imminent.”
As a so-called “terminal lake,” Great Salt Lake is fed by rain, snow and runoff but with no rivers to take water to the ocean, salt and minerals build up over time. Only brine flies and shrimp can survive in the salty water, creating a unique ecosystem that supports 10 million migratory birds. With only sail boats and paddleboards navigating the lake, it is so peaceful, 80,000 white pelicans annually nest on islands without fish.
But as the water evaporates without replenishment, the yacht basin is all mud, predators can walk to the pelican nests and the bottom of the food chain is collapsing.
“You’ve got the lake shrinking, the habitat is drying up and what water is remaining is too salty for (algae and microbes) to survive,” Baxter said.
She came to Utah to study this biology 15 years ago and soon realized that the fate of the brine shrimp is directly related to the future of Salt Lake City. When she’s not teaching biology, she visits schools, retirement homes and farm conventions to spread the word that every drop of water counts – now more than ever.
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