Report shows alarming water challenges in Great Salt Lake Basin areas slated for Utah Inland Port Authority development
Coalition calls for legislature to put cap on water use
A coalition of conservation and environmental organizations released a report on Wednesday morning showing enormous water resource challenges in Great Salt Lake Basin areas slated for Utah Inland Port Authority (UIPA) taxpayer subsidized industrial development, and will call for a Great Salt Lake Basin-wide cap on the amount of water taxpayer subsidized industrial development can use.
Utah Inland Port Authority development in Salt Lake, Utah, Tooele, Weber and Box Elder counties will stress water resources, and in particular groundwater resources, impacting existing property owners and residents, as well as wetlands. As wetlands are dewatered, wildlife habitat will be impaired and dust from drying wetlands will increase. Aquifer drawdown in these areas will also decrease the amount of water going to Great Salt Lake. Several water strapped areas are planning large subsidized data center facilities.
The only inland port project area with a cap on daily industrial use is Salt Lake City with a cap of 200,000 gallons per day. However, instead of extending that protective cap on water use, Senate Bill 225, which if passed as written, would codify allowing every inland port project area developer outside of Salt Lake City to use as much water as they want. The coalition is opposing Senate Bill 225 unless it is amended to extend the cap on water use to ALL project areas in the Great Salt Lake Basin.