It's clear how much the Great Salt Lake has -shrunk over the years. But there is
something in the air that's
not so -clear. Tonight..
News Specialist Dan Spindle
reveals the threats.. newly
exposed dust and minerals at
the lake pose.. to millions
along the Wasatch Front.
2:11-2:15 If you veer off
the beaten path on the fringes
of Layton and Syracuse -
chances are you'll find Kevin
Perry...IT'S ACTUALLY
UNFORTUNATE HOW FEW PEOPLE EXP
LORE THEIR OWN BACKYARD
... He's made it his mission
to dive right into what used
to be a body of water but
boats have long had no use
here... The transportation of
choice for this professor of
Atmospheric Sciences at the U
is a bicycle known as a "fat
bike" - a research tool
necessary to traverse
Farmington Bay and Kevin
invited us along for the ride.
WE ARE NOW AT LEAST FOUR MILES
AWAY FROM ANY WATER ... FOUR
MILES? IN FARMINGTON BAY...
Water flowing from the Jordan
River used to spill into this
lake bed but now the narrow
channel pools somewhere on the
far side of Antelope Island...
the lapping waves of this
former marshland coming only
from the heat radiating off
its stark surface. ... And
that's where the real problem
is revealed. What looks
like a packed, hard, salty
playa can actually be pretty
fragile.... A VERY THIN,
SHALLOW CRUST As we
pedaled - Kevin pointed out
again and again dust hotspots
- places of particular concern
that he believes make up as
much as 9 percent of the now
exposed lake bed.WHEN THE WIND
COMES ALONG, IT STARTS TO
PULVERIZE THISTHE DUST IS
DANGEROUS WHEN THE
CONCENTRATIONS ARE HIGH
REGARDLESS OF WHAT IT'S MADE
OUT OF Dangerous now to
the young, the elderly and
those with breathing issues.
Potentially deadly down the
road as this dust is filled
with cancer-causing, naturally
occuring arsenic.TEN YEARS AGO
WE WEREN'T TALKIN G ABOUT DUST
PLUMES COMING OFF THE GREAT
SALT LAKE And it may take
a decade to turn things
around. Kevin uses his
bi-weekly research - equipped
with a state-of-the-art dust
storm simulator - to educate
colleages, the general public
and really anyone who will
listen, about the ticking time
bomb that's not far off.
For a cautionary tale on U
tah's unwritten future of the
Great Salt Lake - look no
further than 600 miles to the
southwest and a century into
the past. California
drained Owens Lake,
essentially poaching the wat
er from the Sierra Nevada to
fuel growth in Los Angeles in
1913. That diversion of
water created decades of what
was the greatest source of
dust in North America.
With all of the attention on
the population center of L.A.
- it was easy to try to ignore
the toxic cloud casting a
long, dangerous shadow. HOW
OFTEN HAVE YOU PAID A VISIT
OUT HERE TO THE GREAT SALT
LAKE ITSELF? EVEN LONGTIME
UTAHNS WILL TELL YOU NOT
OFTEN, IF AT ALL AND
UNFORTUNATELY THIS IS A CASE
OF OUT OF SIGHT OUT OF MIND.
BUT WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO
WATER TO WHAT USED
TO BE FARMINGTON BAY IN ORDER
TO PRESERVE LIFE AS WE KNOW IT
HERE ALONG THE WASATCH FRONTI
WAS SEROUSLY CONSIDERING A
FUTURE NAME CHANGE FOR SALT
LAKE CITY TO DUST LAKE CITY
BECAUSE THAT WAS THE FUTURE WE
WERE GOING TO BE FACING
That dire designation isn't
how Kevin feels now with more
than a dozen laws and state
statutes put in place just
this session to address the
water crisis. And it's not
just about the dust... it's
the fragile ecosystem - it's
millions of migratory birds
that stop and feed here in
northern Utah. And it's
about generations to come,
believing that this is still
the place to put down roots
and raise a family.WE STILL
HAVE LIIMITATIONS. WE HAVE TO
HAVE WATER TO SURVIVE. WE HAVE
TO HAVE WATER TO GROW CROPS.
WITHOUT WATER, THE POPULATION
CARRYING CAPACITY WOULD HAVE
TO BE REDUCED No reduction
in population is possible as
Utah is the fastest growing
state... ...So
conservation will be critical
to bring the water back here.
If you ask - will this dust
really im pact me?IT WILL
EFFECT EVERYON E FROM
TREMONTON TO BRIGHAM CITY TO
OGDEN TO ALL THE WAY DOWN TO
SALT LAKE CITY AND PROVO
EVENTUALLY THE RAINS WILL
RETURN. BUT THE QUESTION IS
WILL THIS ECOSYSTEM STILL BE
ALIVE WHEN THOSE RAINS RETURN
and WE HAVE THE POWER TO MAKE
CHOICES TO PUT MORE WATER INTO
THE LAKE NOW WHEN IT'S NEEDED
THE MOST Reporting from
the Great Salt Lake, Dan
Spindle, KSL 5 News
This mega-drought that's
hurting the lake drought
that's This mega-
This mega-drought that's hurting the lake could last another 10 to 40 years based
on examples of -climate
patterns through history, so
it's up to us to take action
now to -save the lake.
You'll find a lot more
stories under the Great Salt
Lake section on KSL-TV-dot-com.
... as well as
information on the Great Salt
Lake Collaborative as we look
for ways to save this precious
resource of water in our state.
ADLIB TOSS TO WX