Groups say Great Salt Lake needs help staying wet

Water rights » Fans of Utah's biggest body of water say threats are real and impacts would be vast.
By Judy Fahys
The Salt Lake Tribune
 
Updated: 04/30/2010 10:05:33 PM MDT
 
The idea of a Great Salt Lake with too little water might seem hard to fathom.
But some of the iconic lake's biggest fans spent three days this week discussing signs it might be water-starved already and what the fallout might be if it shrinks more.
One solution? Giving the lake its own water share, through a dedicated water right or a conservation pool, for instance, so that everyone who depends on the Great Salt Lake can count on it even in dry times.
Until this week's Friends of Great Salt Lake forum, said director Lynn deFreitas: "We haven't talked about this -- ever."
Water rights traditionally are owned by people, companies or governments. But some streams and reservoirs have them, supporters say. So why not the Great Salt Lake?
"We all have a stake in the lake," she said. "But this [status quo] puts all that in jeopardy."
About two dozen speakers talked about current and future impacts of shrinking lake levels.
Jack Ray, vice president of the Utah Waterfowl Association, talked about the trouble duck clubs are having protecting the wetlands that millions of birds rely on for food and shelter. Shoreline development, weeds and pollution already have encroached on those critical habitats.
"The appeal of freshwater marshes declines with lake levels," Ray said.
While most states have consumption advisories for fish because of high mercury, Utah is the only one that warns against eating too much of certain kinds of ducks -- three species that feed in the Great Salt Lake wetlands.
"Our organizations have taken a position that enough is enough," he said, noting that they intend to fight further degradation of the wetlands.
Meanwhile, there already is a request by the Great Salt Lake Minerals Corp. to draw an additional 353,000 acre feet of water from the lake each year, enough to reduce lake levels by about 2 feet, according to state estimates. And Salt Lake City International Airport is talking about a fourth runway, which, depending on where it's built, could eat up wetlands with about the same area as 60 Salt Lake City blocks, said Ray.
Dave Shearer, harbor master at the Great Salt Lake Marina, noted that recreationists, industries that do business on the lake and the pilots that fly over it also have a stake in declining lake levels.
The lake's marinas have become so shallow with silt and low water that some search and rescue boats can't use them anymore -- nor can many brine shrimpers and recreational boaters, he said. The low lake level -- it's at 4,196.5 elevation now -- also costs rescuers precious time when their boats get stuck on reefs on their way to accident scenes, he said.
"The game is changed," Shearer said. "We can't just go out and pluck people out of the water anymore."
The idea of reserving a portion of the Utah's already-tight water supply is new enough that no solutions have surfaced yet. But supporters said they will try to raise it, perhaps at the Great Salt Lake Advisory Council or at the in-depth review of the Great Salt Lake Comprehensive Management Plan, which comes up for review this summer.



Great Salt Lake facts
At an average size of 75 miles long and 35 miles wide, it is the biggest natural lake in the United States after the Great Lakes, and is used by wildlife, industry, swimmers, boaters, bikers, hikers, hunters and sightseers.
Among the commercial products extracted from the lake are salt, brine shrimp, magnesium metal, chlorine gas, sodium and potassium sulfate, and magnesium chloride.
Eight state waterfowl management areas and one federal migratory bird refuge dot the southern, northern, and eastern shores of the lake. These areas serve as important resting, feeding, and nesting areas for millions of ducks, geese, grebes, shorebirds, and other water-dependent birds.
Source: Utah Geological Survey