Great Salt Lake dust storms are worse than they thought
Photo of Great Salt Lake dust storm courtesy of David Jackson Photography.
If you’ve been following our work, we hope we’ve driven home two main points: there is no safe level of air pollution, and younger children often suffer the greatest impacts of poor air.
There are many reasons to be concerned about losing our Great Salt Lake, but highest on the list for us and for others who value healthy communities is the risk dust from the lake bed poses.
A new Salt Lake Tribune article highlights a study published in GeoHealth which found that “Children younger than six years old are most at risk… because they tend to consume higher doses of dust and dirt relative to the size of their small bodies.”
The study confirmed pollutants we know to be in dust from the lake bed, like arsenic, which can cause cancer and diabetes, and lead, which “can permanently alter brain and nervous system development, especially in children.”
Although the state allocated $1 million for monitoring, the monitors won’t meet federal standards and therefore wouldn’t automatically trigger EPA action.
UPHE has worked hard to protect Utah’s children from the harmful impacts of pollutants like those found in Great Salt Lake dust. We worked with the Salt Lake County Health Department to remove lead from children’s environments. We worked with the Utah Department of Health and Human Services to place HEPA air purifiers in 70% of Utah schools, and over 5,000 purifiers in early education centers.
Now, we’re suing the state of Utah to force them to cut upstream diversions taking water from Great Salt Lake and putting us all at risk.
Please consider supporting our lawsuit and our other important work to preserve the health of Utah communities.
More on the history and issues behind the crisis at Great Salt Lake: