Economy, environment, ecosystem, culture, wealth and lifestyle — all of these things are affected by the largest salt lake in the Americas.

The Great Salt Lake plays an important role in Utah, stretching across the greater Salt Lake City region and touching the lives of locals and travelers.

The lake reaches 950 square miles across northern Utah and is bisected by the Union Pacific Railroad Causeway into the north and south arms. Because of the causeway, the south arm is gaining the majority of water runoff, increasing surface area, but the north arm is becoming more salinated, decreasing surface area.

From tourism to health care, scientific discovery to preservation, the lake holds boundless opportunities for growth and development. However, the lake is disappearing — reaching an all-time low of 4,188.5 feet in November 2022 according to FRIENDS of the Great Salt Lake.

FRIENDS of the Great Salt Lake is an organization that serves to protect and preserve the Great Salt Lake’s ecosystem and also increase public awareness of the lake. According to their website, their long-term goal is to create a more comprehensive watershed-based restoration and protection for the ecosystem of the Great Salt Lake.

The state manages water flow from the south arm to the north arm through a device called a berm, which is a raised portion of the railroad causeway where water can filter through stones. Rivers such as the Bear, Jordan, Ogden and Weber flow into the lake.

However, officials describe the system as filling a bathtub with a straw. While there is still water flow, it is a minuscule amount.

The lake hosts an ecosystem for brine shrimp, brine flies and multiple species of birds. The concentrated saline water of the lake has caused decreases in these animal population sizes raising concerns about environmental issues.

Becka Downard, a wetland ecologist with the Utah Geological Survey, said the brine shrimp nearly entered into a dormant state last year, and now as dust storms are being kicked up, harsh materials are being released into the air.

“So for the last 15 years, I’ve been monitoring how the wetlands and the bed of the lake are getting farther and farther and farther away,” Downard said.

Downard said the wetlands she watches are temporary homes for many migratory bird species including 90% of the world’s population of eared grebes and the phalarope species.

The discussion on the lake’s health is not a new one. Over the past few decades, the Great Salt Lake has decreased rapidly, and after reaching the lows of last year, more of Utah’s population is realizing the topic demands attention.

Nonprofit organizations are making efforts to preserve the role the lake has for its inhabitants and the ecosystems surrounding the lake. They are trying to preserve the history and emotional significance the lake has for Native American cultures and how it helped Utah develop as a state.

Lynn de Freitas, executive director of FRIENDS, said that after last winter the lake had gained 5.5 feet of water but has since lost 3 feet due to evaporation from high heat over the summer. The lake is getting smaller and it is also getting saltier.

“Not only was the lake getting lower because we’re in a millennium drought, but the ecological impacts that were going on in the system, like increased salinity, were impacting brine shrimp,” de Freitas said.

Katie Newburn, the education and outreach director for FRIENDS, said the lake experienced a record high in salinity, nearly 19%.

In February 2023, the state decided to raise the berm to capture as much fresh water runoff into the south arm to address the salinity crisis in at least half of the lake.

“They wanted to try to preserve the ecosystem in the south arm, and that management decision has worked toward that goal in lessening the salinity back to a healthy range for the microbialites, brine shrimp and brine flies in the lake,” Newburn said.

However, a major concern for the lake disappearing, according to the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah, is that the lake bed will become exposed and dust storms will kick up the heavy metals held in the ground. This will cause major health issues for Utahns.

Nonprofit organizations encourage education on how Utah citizens can become water-wise and ethical in water usage, ensure a sustainable view of environmental protection and how water influences human lives.

Educating the public is happening through the Great Salt Lake Collaborative where media outlets — radio, television and print — from all over Utah are coming together to tell the story of the Great Salt Lake.

“We also had some national news pieces that really shed light on it because there’s always been this Great Salt Lake advocacy community, but we’re basically talking to each other before that,” Newburn said.

KSL’s morning and noon anchor Dan Spindle did a 12-episode series on the state of the Great Salt Lake, understanding through multiple sources the agricultural, economic and environmental impacts of the lake’s current state.

Spindle’s series, which took a year and a half between 2021 to 2022 to produce, wanted to answer the question of why Utah citizens should care about the lake.

“I kind of took that question in the stories that I was doing and asked the experts with whom I spoke about that, ‘OK, why should we care?’” Spindle said.

Through his investigations, Spindle realized that one of the main reasons the lake was dissipating was the tapping of water upstream for industrial and agricultural uses before the water flowing down the rivers had a chance to reach the lake.

“And so before the water gets to the Salt Lake, we’re using it for farming, we’re using it for development, we’re using it for commercial and residential purposes,” Spindle said, explaining that ultimately Utah needs a shift in mindset and further education on the factors influencing the lake.

De Freitas said Utahns need to understand that daily life is affected by the lake: Utah’s economy, the migrations of birds and even the snowpack that Utah is famous for.

“What we do or don’t do for the lake is going to be a direct determinant on our future as well,” de Freitas said.

Alex Veilieux, policy associate from HEAL Utah, encouraged Utahns to attend “Lake Hours,” which are meetings run by Save Our Great Salt Lake on the second Wednesday of every month. During these meetings, people can become more educated on events and resources going on for or at the lake.

“I mean, that’s step one in addressing any issue, is people have to be aware of it,” Newburn said. “So I think that we’re finally making progress in the right direction and I think people are realizing it’s kind of like you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.”

Utah officials are making decisions about the future of the lake by brainstorming solutions and requesting help. For example, recently there was the idea to pump salt water up to Utah through California from the ocean. However, there were a lot of contingencies with that idea, and it was shut down by California.

Discussions are still ongoing for possible solutions to assist the lake, but the public can lend a hand by becoming educated on ways to be water-wise, facts about Utah’s dry climate and how they can help sustain the lake’s ecosystems.