New ideas to deal with Great Salt Lake dust and monitoring

The Salt Lake Tribune covered Utah Speaker of the House, Mike Schultz’, latest idea to help mitigate the hazardous dust that’s blowing from exposed lake bed of Great Salt Lake. While upstream water diversions are widely regarded as a main cause (besides climate change) of the lake’s declining levels, this latest idea from the Utah legislature doesn’t address those.

He pitched adding berms to get water to exposed areas.

UPHE’s cofounder and board president, Dr. Brian Moench, was quoted in the Tribune article, “The good thing is apparently our most powerful legislators are beginning to understand that allowing dust storms from the Great Salt Lake to smother the Wasatch Front will be devastating to our economy and a disaster for everyone’s health. The bad thing is they are still groping for just about any solution, no matter how extreme, and avoiding the simplest, and most effective, which is to seriously address the massive diversion of the inlets to the lake. Without that, all these other ideas are absolutely going to fail.”

Another Salt Lake Tribune article discusses how the state is falling short in monitoring the dust coming from the lake. It acknowledges that we can be watching dust storms brewing or sweeping across the city while the AQI (air quality index) is showing good air.

Not having accurate dust monitoring—especially in the areas downwind of the lake—is a major problem for public health. The exposed lakebed contains harmful substances like arsenic, mercury, and other heavy metals from decades of industrial runoff and natural mineral deposits. When strong winds lift this dust into the air, those toxic particles can be inhaled deep into the lungs.

Without adequate monitoring, the public may not be warned in time—or at all. That means schools may not keep children indoors, workers may not take precautions, and vulnerable populations like the elderly or those with asthma and heart conditions could be unknowingly exposed to a dangerous pollutant load. This is especially concerning because fine dust particles can contribute to inflammation, respiratory disease, cardiovascular problems, and even premature death.

Improving our dust monitoring network isn’t just about collecting better data—it’s about giving people the information they need to protect themselves. The state only approved $50,000 for dust monitoring last legislative session, despite much more being requested and encouraged by