Related video from March 2024: New plan to help Great Salt Lake recover
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — After record rainfall this weekend, many in the Salt Lake area are dealing with clean up from flooding. The rain was good for the Great Salt Lake, but officials said the benefits are going to start showing up later, going into the spring.
Laura Haskell, Utah Division of Water Resources Drought Coordinator, told ABC4 that despite the record rainfall, the Great Salt Lake is so large that it’s not going to cause a huge rise. “The area that drains into that is actually about 36,000 miles, so it’s huge,” she said.
Salt Lake City area sees second wettest day in history, National Weather Service says
But that doesn’t mean there was no impact. “It did help to stop it from going down and had a little blip up, which was good,” she said. “Any time we don’t have as much evaporation is actually really good for the lake, and then to have this precipitation on it, it’s good. We appreciate it.”
Haskell noted that the water year starts on October 1 because of the way the water cycle works. In fall, we’re not using as much water, and we’re starting to acquire water for the next year…