Great Salt Lake Is Miraculously Great Again, But How Long Will That Last?

The Great Salt Lake in Utah, in danger of 
drying up, got a reprieve this winter as runoff
from heavy snows have replenished the
lake. At least for now. 

 Back in January, I told you that the Great Salt Lake in Utah was in trouble. It was at record low levels, and some feared it could dry up entirely. 

The good news now is that big lake has gotten a reprieve. At least for now.  

Utah had a stormy winter.  Snow really piled up, in some places to record levels in the state's mountains. Now that snow has started to melt, and some of that runoff is flowing toward and into the Great Salt Lake. 

As a result, the lake its back from its near death. 

In November, the lake was at its lowest level on record, and it had lost 70 percent of its water since 1850.

Since then the water in the Great Salt Lake has risen by about three feet. Most of that came from winter rain and snow dumped directly from the sky into the lake, or its immediate shore. 

This means that more water from melting mountain snow should add more water to the lake.  The statewide average snowpack was 30 inches last week, which is the most on record. The previous record was 28.2 inches in 1952.  

As the Washington Post reported earlier this month, the Great Salt Lake is still about six feet below the minimum it needs for the lake's overall ecological and economic health. 

When all that snow melts in the Utah mountains it could boost lake levels by another three or four feet, which would bring it up to a range that's pretty good.  

That doesn't mean the lake is permanently cured. This year might have been a one-off. The West's long-running drought could always return. And western droughts are worse because of the hotter weather brought on by climate change. 

Large amounts of water that would go into the Great Salt Lake is diverted for home and agricultural use. The lake will need lots of conservation and good water management by humans to keep its ecological balance going. 

If the Great Salt Lake is ever allowed to dry up, a huge ecosystem and critical stop for migratory birds would be destroyed. Dust from the lake bed, containing such lovely substances as arsenic and mercury, would blow into populated areas. 

The Great Salt Lake is great again, but how long will it last?