The Great Salt Lake in Utah is disappearing. Over time, more of the lake bed has been exposed, and the effect is so large that it can be seen from space. In her article “Seeking the Source of the Vanishing Great Salt Lake,” Joanna Klein discusses the reasons that may explain this occurrence. Wayne A. Wurstbaugh, an aquatic ecologist from Utah State University, analysed the lake and found that surprisingly, the reason has nothing to do with climate change. The issue was also not a fluctuation that occurred every x years. However, the most reasonable explanation is human overconsumption of the lake water. The lake has been used for watering agriculture around the area- corn, hay, grain, and pasture. While this consumption is overkill for the lake’s existence, water diversion has reduced the amount of water that enters the lake. Wartsurgh and his colleagues argue that this alarming issue can be fixed if consumption begins to decrease and if more research is done to observe how water flows in lakes. This issue is very common in saline lakes, and it has been observed in the Aral Sea, a lake that cits in Central Asia between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Klein stresses how this issue was dealt with by building 106$ million dike which helped a small amount. Another possible solution discussed is to divert water from the Colorado River Basin and to generally reduce water consumption.

       A lot of the issue that stems from the increasing occurrences of desiccation of saltwater lakes is due to the resourcefulness and monetization that these lakes can lead to (Wurstbaugh et al., 2017). These lakes most resourceful use is agriculture, but that generates the overconsumption that then fuels the dessication. Wurstbaugh’s research has also shown that this loss of resources going to affect numerous industries, but it will also potentially cause harm to crops and human health (2017). The arid lake area leads to salt-dust storms that are very damaging. In fact, the desiccation of the Owen Lake in California has lead to so much airborne dust that has increased respiratory illnesses such as asthma, sinus infections, and allergies (Kittle, 2000). Klein’s possible solutions have been attempted by the governments that surround the Aral Sea. The dike has helped a significant amount considering the rate at which the Aral Sea was drying up. The fishing industry has survived in Kazakhstan and sickness levels have gone down (The World Bank, 2005). his option should definitely be explored by the Utah government as the restoration of the water levels of this lake is very important to numerous industries who monetize from it and to the health of the people around the area.

Works Cited:

Kittle, S. (2000, January 14). Survey of Reported Health Effects of Owens Lake Particulate

Matter. Retrieved December 09, 2017, from http://www.gbuapcd.org/Information/SurveyofReportedHealthEffectsofOwensLakeParticulateMatter.pdf

Klein, J. (2017, November 28). Seeking the Source of the Vanishing Great Salt Lake. Retrieved

December 09, 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/28/science/great-salt-lake-utah-vanishing.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience

The World Bank (2005, September 01). Saving a Corner of the Aral Sea. Retrieved December 09, 2017, from

http://www.worldbank.org/en/results/2005/09/01/saving-a-corner-of-the-aral-sea

Wurtsbaugh, W. A., Miller, C., Null, S. E., DeRose, R. J., Wilcock, P., Hahnenberger, M., Howe, F., … Moore, J. (2017, October 23). Decline of the world’s saline lakes. Retrieved December 09, 2017. Nature Geoscience. doi: 10.1038/NGEO3052