Federal funding to bring new stream gates to Great Salt Lake

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—and what can be done to make a difference before it is too late. Read all of our stories at greatsaltlakenews.org.

REESE, Utah — The Bureau of Reclamation is giving $3 million to help water managers better track Great Salt Lake’s incoming water.

Water managers say the money will fund 13 new stream gates. The stream gates will help researchers learn how much water flows into the lake each year. 

“It’ll help us understand when water is dedicated to the lake, is it actually getting to the lake?” said Great Salt Lake Deputy Commissioner Tim Davis. “It’ll help us understand during different years, how much water, even when it’s not dedicated, makes it to the lake.” 

According to Davis, understanding how much the lake gains and loses each year is critical in the mission to keep it from drying up. 

One of the stream gates will be installed in the Ogden Bay Waterfowl Management area. It will be about 10 miles closer to the lake than the current closest one. 

Data collectors said that it would take a few years to gather data since each water year is unique. In the meantime, Davis said the best thing Utahns can do is conserve water. 

Currently, Great Salt Lake is four feet higher than its record low in 2022. However, it remains six feet below the target healthy level. 

Adam Small is a reporter for KSL NewsRadio. He primarily reports on the Great Salt Lake and Natural Resources. Follow him on Facebook and X.  

Related:

• Rare mirabilite formations spotted on Great Salt Lake

• Great Salt Lake license plates could hit bumpers in the next couple of months

Follow @AdamSmallKSL