Great Salt Lake Collaborative

This article is published through the Great Salt Lake Collaborative, a solutions journalism initiative that partners news, education and media organizations to help inform people about the plight of the Great Salt Lake — and what can be done to make a difference before it is too late.

All your questions about the shrinking Great Salt Lake, answered (by a brine shrimp!)

KUER 90.1 | By McCaulee Blackburn,

Rakel Davis, Jim Hill

Published October 5, 2022 at 2:00 AM MDT

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State of Utah Department of Natural Resources park ranger Angelic Lemmon walks across reef-like structures called microbialites, exposed by receding waters at the Great Salt Lake on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022, near Salt Lake City.

Rick Bowmer

The Great Salt Lake is in trouble.

Like a lot of things in the 80s, the iconic landmark was at a historic high. Over the last 36 years though, the West’s megadrought, a changing climate and water diversions have taken their toll. In 2022, the terminal lake hit a new low as the rivers that feed it increasingly serve Utah’s burgeoning population.

The dire state of Great Salt Lake hasn’t gone unnoticed. Utah’s lawmakers are trying to act, as are the state’s federal representatives. In the meantime, residents in Salt Lake City and all along the Wasatch Front are beginning to worry about the potential for toxic dust.

All in all, there are a lot more questions than there are answers right now. Especially about how we got into this situation. Owing a lot to the questions you’ve submitted to the Great Salt Lake Collaborative, here’s what a brine shrimp is able to tell us about how we got here.

👇 Scroll or swipe down 👇

Great Salt Lake: Before and today

Listen to part 2 of the audio Q&A

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This story was reported and written by McCaulee Blackburn of Salt Lake Community College’s Amplify Utah and originally published by the Great Salt Lake Collective. KUER’s Rakel Davis provided the illustrations and the digital presentation was the work of Jim Hill. Elaine Clark provided editing support for both the audio and digital versions.