Great Salt Lake dust storm returns attention to air monitoring gaps

SALT LAKE CITY — An April 27 Great Salt Lake dust storm swept across the Salt Lake Valley, impacting residents in Magna, part of Tooele County and the west side of Salt Lake City. 

According to Grow the Flow, air quality monitors didn’t record the event. The southwest shores of Great Salt Lake, where the recent dust storm occurred, lack dust monitors. 

Lakebed dust contains several toxic minerals, including arsenic, cadmium, copper and lead. When windstorms blow in, they pick up the minerals, which have been exposed by receding water levels. As they are airborne, they are breathed in by residents in nearby communities. 

“We often think of the impacts of Great Salt Lake dust on our public health as a far-off, distant future,” said Jake Dreyfous, the managing director of Grow the Flow. “The reality is that dust storms from more than one-thousand square miles of exposed lake bed are infiltrating our communities and impacting the air we breathe today.” 

According to Grow the Flow, increasing frequency of dust storms is causing a “growing public health crisis.” 

KSL NewsRadio previously reported that inhaling the Great Salt Lake dust has negative impacts on our health. It can exacerbate existing conditions, such as asthma and COPD, and lead to the development of respiratory illness, heart disease and cancer. 

“We must take proactive steps as individuals and as a state to get more water to Great Salt Lake, if we hope to avoid widespread impacts to our health, economy and ecology in Northern Utah,” Dreyfous said. 

On April 28, the United States Geological Survey recorded a surface elevation of 4,193.4 feet at Saltair Boat Harbor. The website provides daily updates on lake levels. 

Will Great Salt Lake dust storm monitoring be increased? 

During the 2025 Utah legislative session, lawmakers approved some funding to increase dust monitoring near Great Salt Lake. Of the $651,000 requested, only $150,000 was approved. 

According to Grow the Flow, the allotment is enough to hire a Division of Air Quality staff member, but not enough to install new dust monitors, or to provide information to impacted communities. 

The Utah Division of Environmental Quality is making effort to install more monitors with other funds. 

Until September 2024, there were only four PM 10 dust monitors near the lake. None of them were within 10 miles of the shoreline. Although the number increased to six, there are still gaps in the state’s dust monitoring capabilities. 

A 2024 report by the University of Utah found that Great Salt Lake dust has a greater impact on disadvantaged communities in the Salt Lake Valley. Many of the city’s lower-income neighborhoods sit closer to the lake than more affluent communities. When dust storms begin, they’re hit hardest. 

Carmen Valdez, a senior policy associate for the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah, said the organization is concerned about the implications for the health of Utahns. 

“We’re deeply concerned about what the shrinking Great Salt Lake means for our families and communities. More frequent and toxic dust storms, like the one on Sunday, April 27, are carrying dangerous pollutants from the lakebed and nearby tailings piles, putting our health at serious risk.”

Can we prevent the dust? 

Since they expose the areas containing the toxic materials, receding waterlines have led to the uptick in dust storms. Therefore, getting more water to the lake is necessary to curb them. 

The Utah Division of Water Resources said it is working to strengthen the lake’s water supply. In 2022, it received $5 million in funding from the Utah legislature and $3.1 million from the Bureau of Reclamation basin study program. 

“A handful of its projects are in full swing,” wrote the division in a March 7 press release. 

Additionally, the website outlines dust as one of the Officer of the Great Salt Lake Commissioner’s priorities.