Downwind: How Failed Great Salt Lake Water Policy and Toxic Dust Create Generational Debt and Jeopardize Utah’s Future
UPHE has been working hard behind the scenes to compile an expansive report on the threats Great Salt Lake shrinking poses to the public. This report, the result of a collaboration with our friends at Utah Rivers Council, covers toxins that are in the lakebed dust, their sources, the associated health consequences of exposure to the toxins, financial costs, and potential solutions.
The report reveals that the Lake level continuing to drop could cost the state billions between controlling dust, and dealing with health issues of residents.
“The analysis draws from nearly 600 existing studies and research papers to estimate the long-term costs for tamping down dust storms that can be kicked up by even modest winds on the dry lake bed,” Politico reported.
The article quotes co-author of the report and UPHE President, Dr. Brian Moench, “The Great Salt Lake is really a concentration of all the toxic byproducts of modern civilization — all the chemicals, all the heavy metals, all the PFAS chemicals, all the pathogens, all the radionuclides. The dust particles act as a Trojan horse in that they’re carrying other types of toxicity with them.”
Combined with the silica or calcium carbonate that makes up the lake bed’s dust, Moench said, there can be significant health threats to the population.
“You add all of these up, and you have a witch’s brew of chemical and heavy metal toxicity,” he added. “The overall impact has not been discussed at all.“
The good news is that there are solutions. That’s why UPHE, along with partners, is suing the state to try to force the solutions they have avoided for years.
Our hope in producing this report is that by outlining the scope of the public health crisis looming from a desiccated Great Salt Lake and summarizing the mitigation costs to Utah taxpayers, we can show the Utah public that there is only one viable dust-mitigation solution: restore Great Salt Lake’s surface area to 1,600 square miles. Utah’s future depends on it.