Great Salt Lake is back on the decline. It’s also receiving $53M to help save it

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 — The Great Salt Lake is in the middle of its summer decline, bringing its levels back down to a concerning section within the state’s management plan.

Its southern arm is now down to 4,192.2 feet elevation, losing about 1½ feet since its peak this spring, while its north arm remains just below that, at 4,191.8 feet elevation, according to federal data. Levels begin to create “serious adverse effects” on brine shrimp viability, air quality, mineral production and recreation at 4,192 feet elevation, the state plan warns.

However, the lake is also receiving a significant financial boost amid ongoing efforts to get water back to the lake.

Up to $53 million in grant funding is now available for projects that support the Great Salt Lake and its wetlands, state officials announced on Wednesday.\

The money can be used toward short-term or long-term voluntary water donations, paying water rights holders who used the lake’s tributaries to send water to the lake instead. Projects that reduce consumptive water losses or restore the lake’s ecosystem or habitat are eligible to receive a share of the funding, as well.

“The abundance and diversity of funding available through this multiorganizational partnership will give project managers the opportunity to apply for the funding that will best fit their needs,” said Brian Steed, Utah’s Great Salt Lake commissioner, in a statement.

Most of the new funding comes from a $50 million grant that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation allocated for Great Salt Lake projects last year. The Utah Department of Natural Resources received the funding this spring after the Trump administration temporarily suspended all Inflation Reduction Act funding for review.

Another $2 million is coming from the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands. The rest was set aside by the Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Trust, an organization created by $40 million that the state allocated to Great Salt Lake protections in 2022.

Government agencies, nongovernment organizations, institutions and private entities have until Oct. 24 to apply for a grant for their project idea. Recipients are expected to be announced by late 2025 or early 2026.

“This coordinated funding effort presents unprecedented opportunities to support projects that will enhance Great Salt Lake’s habitats, reduce water consumption and deliver water to the lake and wetlands, benefiting the overall health of Great Salt Lake,” said Marcelle Shoop, executive director of the trust. “Partnership and collective efforts are essential to preserving Great Salt Lake.”

Efforts to protect the lake picked up after the Great Salt Lake reached an all-time low of 4,188.5 feet elevation in 2022, creating all sorts of environmental and economic challenges. The lake level typically falls during the summer due to evaporation and diversions from its tributaries during the irrigation season, only to rise during the winter and spring from water collected during the snowpack season.

Its southern arm is on track to reach its lowest point since the lake received a major boost from Utah’s record snowpack in 2023. A provision is in place to raise a berm between the southern and northern arms should the southern arm reach 4,190 feet elevation, thus protecting the arm’s salinity levels.

That hasn’t been a concern yet.

Salinity levels remained in a “good spot,” Steed said last month. However, he and others have been concerned about water consumption trends, which are up again this year as drought returns to the state.

“We live within our own ‘choose your own adventure’ when it comes to the lake. How we use water will impact lake levels,” he added. “If we use less on our lawns and gardens, it turns out we’ll have more water for the lake.”