Great Salt Lake has already reached its max height for the year

SALT LAKE CITY (Utah News Dispatch) — The Great Salt Lake has already reached what’s expected to be the height of its yearly cycle after the state’s warmest winter on record, state officials said Tuesday. And they expect May and June to make matters worse by bringing hotter weather than normal. 

The prognosis was one of several that water managers pointed out Tuesday at a news conference as they previewed Utah’s grim water outlook for the months ahead, with most of the state already in severe drought. 

“We are truly in uncharted territory,” said Joel Ferry, executive director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources. 

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The water year doesn’t end until October, but Ferry said the lake likely peaked at an elevation of 4,192.6 feet earlier this month — a foot below last year’s high point around the same time. While it hasn’t plunged to 2022’s record low, it is still more than five feet shy of its minimum healthy level. 

Looking back over the last century, some years stand out, Ferry said: 2018, 1977 and 1934 were dry, setting previous record lows for snowpack. 

“This blows all of those out of the water,” Ferry told reporters. “This is that much worse.” 

In the winter, cold temperatures and snowfall typically build up an icy reserve of snowpack that helps to replenish the lake in spring and summer, but officials and scientists are referring to the current water year as that of the “no-pack.”

State Engineer Teresa Wilhelmsen administers water rights in Utah under a system based on seniority. Those with the newest water rights are first to see their allocations cut in dry years, and that’s already happening, Wilhelmsen said, a sign of harsh realities.

For example, Weber River water rights from 1907 forward are already “off,” meaning those water users aren’t getting any of their allocation, she said. Planning for a hot, dry summer, some Utah communities are already making difficult decisions. 

Utah’s small city of Emery last week cut off secondary water — the untreated supply used mainly for lawns and home gardens — to conserve for the months ahead. 

“There’s no choice, looking at the runoff and no snowpack,” Mayor Jack Funk told Utah News Dispatch. 

In northern Utah, the Great Salt Lake has suffered from decades of overconsumption, with agriculture as the primary user, as well as the effects of climate change and drought. Its surface area has shrunk to expose parts of a dusty lakebed containing heavy metals such as arsenic and lead, raising concerns about impacts to human health and wildlife.  

The lake rebounded from its lowest point four years ago with help from record-setting snowfall and from the state, which raised a berm to help keep the salt content and ecosystem of the lake’s southern arm in check. Its level will start to decline again in coming weeks as more water evaporates from its surface than flows in, Ferry said. 

Still, some signs are positive. There are more people seeking to lease their water shares to the state to help conserve for the Great Salt Lake and the Colorado River than Utah has capacity to pay right now, Ferry said. The program is expected to grow under new state laws setting aside more money and helping the state to more easily track the flow of the conserved water. 

While the drought may deter some Utahns from signing up, he said, “it certainly doesn’t stop those efforts.”

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.

Utah News Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Utah News Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor McKenzie Romero for questions: info@utahnewsdispatch.com.