Conservation and Public Health Experts to Present Public Health and Financial Costs of Great Salt Lake Dust Crisis
A nonprofit coalition between Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment (UPHE) and Utah Rivers Council’s (URC) Great Salt Lake Waterkeeper consisting of public health experts and conservationists have partnered on a groundbreaking new report, Downwind, about the health impacts and economic costs of the toxic dust crisis at the Great Salt Lake. UPHE Co-Founder and President, Brian Moench, and URC Founder and Executive Director, Zachary Frankel, will be presenting the findings from the report at the Salt Lake County Water Symposium.
When: Thursday, November 20th at 2:00 PM
Where: Salt Lake County Watershed Symposium
Utah Cultural Celebration Center
1355 West 3100 South, West Valley City, UT 84119
A view west as a dust storm brews over the Great Salt Lake. As the Great Salt Lake recedes due to excessive diversion of its tributary rivers, it leaves thousands of acres of highly toxic lakebed dust which can easily become airborne.
“For over 100 years, the Great Salt Lake has been contaminated by a steadily increasing concentration of all the toxic byproducts of modern civilization — all the industrial chemicals, heavy metals, pesticides, PFAS chemicals, microplastics, pathogens, and radionuclides,” said Dr. Brian Moench, President of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment. “The dust particles act as a Trojan horse in that they’re carrying all these other types of toxins with them.”
“The lower the Great Salt Lake becomes, the more the mitigation costs grow,” said Zach Frankel, executive director of the Utah Rivers Council. “Utah leadership is on track to spend billions of taxpayer dollars on dust mitigation instead of implementing inexpensive conservation solutions.”
The health hazard has been under analyzed, underestimated, and underreported.
Two of our 24 dust mitigation cost estimates at the Great Salt Lake. Depending on the Great Salt Lake’s water level, the prevalence of emissive dust hot spots, and which method is used to mitigate the dust, 20-year costs range from $1.3 to $22.8 billion.
For the first time, physicians who specialize in the health consequences of air pollution have reviewed all the relevant medical research, including over 500 studies, and have compiled the most comprehensive report to date on the public health consequences of a disappearing Great Salt Lake. Their conclusions about the toxicity of the expanding dry lake bed are stark. It is undoubtedly much worse than previously reported.
“The shrinking of the Great Salt Lake has become the most important environmental and health related issue of our time. The report, Downwind, that should be mandatory reading for every lawmaker and everyone who hopes to remain a resident of Northern Utah,” said Jonny Vasic, Executive Director of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment.
The Great Salt Lake is the largest remaining wetland ecosystem in the American West and home to 12 million migratory birds from 330 species. It is a terminal lake, meaning that for over a century the lakebed has collected toxins from industry, agriculture and cities from parts of Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho. The expanding dry lakebed is now exposing these toxins to the adjacent municipal population of 2.7 million Utah residents immediately downwind. This has profound public health and economic implications that will span multiple generations. Many residents feel compelled to leave this metropolitan area as a result.
In allowing the Great Salt Lake to continue shrinking, the state of Utah is following a tragic and all-too-familiar pattern of government failing to protect citizens from environmental hazards, dangerous consumer products, and industrial toxins for decades after there was more than enough evidence to demand action. Leaded paint and gasoline, asbestos, numerous pesticides like DDT, cigarettes, oxycontin, PFAS, BPA, and radiation are just a few examples. No one knows this painful story better than Utahns, tens of thousands of whom became downwinder victims of nuclear radiation after being lied to about its toxicity. Failing to save the lake will create new generations of downwinder victims on an even longer time frame. Utahns must not settle for waiting for more evidence of harm, the state must act now. Failure to do so will result in a public health catastrophy and billions of tax dollars spent on dust mitigation.
“Utah is decades behind other Western states in implementing a sustainable water policy,” said Frankel. “But our leaders are pretending they’re doing everything they can to save the Great Salt Lake.”
Public health is already being impacted by GSL dust and not just from obvious dust storms. The smallest and therefore most dangerous particles become atmospheric during much more frequent, minimal winds. These particles are not accurately or adequately detected by PM10 “dust monitors,” and they stay in the atmosphere for weeks or longer, perpetuating exposure to Wasatch Front residents. For multiple reasons, the public health hazard exceeds what is indicated by standard air quality monitors.
In other countries where lakes have dried up, the public health consequences are alarming, with dramatic increases in the rates of numerous diseases, and stark decreases in life expectancy. Fetuses, Infants, and young children are most at risk because their organs are at critical developmental stages and therefore highly vulnerable. The consequences can be irreversible and life-long, though they may not manifest until decades later.