Declining water levels in the Great Salt Lake are part of a larger trend of decreasing water availability in the Southwestern U.S. that presents significant challenges for people, animals, and ecosystems. One challenge is that as some lakes dry, newly exposed sediment containing heavy metals can become toxic dust that blows into populated areas. Increased air pollution and other effects of drying lakes make it critical to understand and improve decision-making for shrinking lake management.
The goal of this project is to work with communities around the Great Salt Lake to understand their experiences of decreasing water levels and to ultimately help resource managers and communities develop effective, inclusive, and fair plans to conserve lakes, save culturally important places, and protect human health. The project team will partner with HEAL Utah to reduce the already-existing impacts of drying lakes, including the effects of increased air pollution on human health through photography, mapping activities, and an organized session to build Do-It-Yourself home air filters. The team will seek feedback through the project from community groups and resource managers through workshops, listening sessions, advisory board meetings, and information exchange events.
Results of the project will be shared with communities, policymakers, and academic peers through social media, reports, papers and presentations. Research findings can inform policy and planning, and products such as climate adaptation cards and an online photo gallery will be publicly available for replication in other community-based projects. Finally, this work will be important for other lake systems in the region that face similar issues, and a key outcome of the project will be to hold listening sessions in other lake-based communities in the region (Salton Sea, Lake Mead, Lake Powell) to build connections and propose future research.
