Editor’s note: This article is published through the Great Salt Lake Collaborative, a solutions journalism initiative that partners news, education and media organizations to help inform people about the plight of the Great Salt Lake.
SALT LAKE CITY — Water may soon cease to flow to the northern arm of the Great Salt Lake as a means to handle salinity challenges under a bill that the Utah Legislature passed during its special session.
Both the Utah House of Representatives and Senate voted unanimously Monday to approve HB1001, allowing the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands to raise a berm at the causeway separating the lake’s two arms to as high as 4,192 feet elevation if it’s determined that the berm needs to be raised that high. That’s 2 feet higher than the current cutoff requirement, and nearly a foot higher than the lake’s current elevation.
“We’re currently hovering just a couple of feet over the lowest level that the lake has ever been. … The bill solves the problem in giving the division just a little more flexibility,” said Rep. Jill Koford, R-Ogden, the bill’s sponsor, moments before the House vote.
The causeway berm has become a tactic to address the salinity of the lake’s southern arm since it reached an all-time low of 4,188.5 feet elevation in 2022. The lake’s southern arm is usually less salty than its northern arm because freshwater from its tributaries pours into that side of the lake.
Yet, salinity levels reached as high as 183 grams per liter at the Saltair Boat Harbor, in the lake’s southeast corner, and 185 grams per liter in Gilbert Bay, on its southwest edge, three years ago, translating into major problems for the southern arm’s ecosystem at the time. The Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands began raising the berm to stop high-salinity water from the northern arm from seeping into the southern arm.
A protocol was later established, calling for the berm to be raised whenever the southern arm’s levels fell to 4,190 feet in elevation, largely for this reason.
While the need has been an afterthought since it rebounded to as high as 4,195.2 feet elevation last year, berm debates arose as lake levels have fallen amid back-to-back summers of hotter and drier than normal conditions, and increased water consumption. Saltair’s salinity levels had fallen to as low as 92 grams per liter, but have risen back to 122 grams per liter as the lake recedes again. Gilbert Bay levels are about the same, per federal data.
Both are considered healthy levels for now, but that could change as the lake has evened out since water began flowing back into the northern arm. The difference between the two arms is now just a few inches after it had grown to a few feet in 2023.
Koford introduced draft legislation in August calling for the berm to be raised to 4,192 feet elevation when needed “to prevent dangerous salinity spikes” within the southern arm. However, some residents and local water conservation groups argued that the measure could potentially cut off the lake’s northern arm for good.
“I think it’s important to keep in mind that while the north arm may be less ecologically important, it can still become a potential source of dangerous dust,” said Lauren Griffith, as the bill was discussed in an interim meeting.
HB1001 requires that state land managers consult with the Office of the Great Salt Lake Commissioner before any changes, and set up a “schedule to lower the adaptive management berm” within 18 months. That requirement, Koford explained on Monday, allows the lake to balance back afterward.
Utah lawmakers already approved $500,000 toward ongoing berm management costs, which the bill does not affect. The bill does not require a signature from Gov. Spencer Cox to take effect because it received enough support from both chambers.
