Much has been said about saving the Great Salt Lake . It is obvious that a shrinking lake bodes ill for most of northern Utah. What doesn’t seem to be obvious to many is that all lakes need water to survive.
Nature is balancing the size of the lake with the amount of water it gets. If the inflow is small, the lake will be small. The lake will shrink until it achieves that balance. Throwing money at a lake will not make it bigger. Studies won’t do it either. Only water can do that.
We are told we must conserve water. Good idea. We live in a desert. Agricultural water use in not the problem.
People consume water. We use it to drink, to bathe, to flush toilets, to wash cars, to water yards, to cool homes, buildings, computer farms and many other pursuits. An acre of subdivisions takes much more water than an acre of sagebrush. Our governor and other state leaders think growth is good. Perhaps. However, growth means increased water use. Increased water use means less water to the Great Salt Lake. Less water to the Great Salt Lake means a smaller lake. A smaller lake means more toxic dust on the Wasatch Front. No amount of money will change that.