Lake's not so great
Mud plain is growing as water level recedes
Maybe those mothballed Great Salt Lake pumps should be retired to a museum. They likely won't be needed for many years. After two decades of being highly visible from along I-15 in Centerville, the lake has now receded sharply and is at its lowest level — 4,198 feet above sea level — since 1980.
Contrast that with as recently as 15 years ago when the massive pumps were used to try to preserve I-80 and reclaim the Antelope Island causeway and other land from record-high water levels that caused some $250 million in damages.
More heat and less precipitation are what's lowering the lake. "It's been real hot and dry," Wallace Gwynn, a geologist with the Utah Geological Survey, said.
Indeed, Gwynn said he'll go out on a limb by predicting the lake level will bottom out this year on about Dec. 1 at 4,197.15 feet. The last time it was that low was in 1970-72.
"I took eight years of downtrends and averages," Gwynn said, as the basis of his prediction.
He said if the drought continues, the level may go as low as 4,196 feet next year, the lowest elevation since about 1970.
Dale R. Hawkins of Kaysville, professor emeritus at Weber State University's School of Business, has his own unorthodox system for predicting the level of the lake. He uses the principles of business charts.
He believes the lake will likely remain in a downward trend until 2005, based on his chart interpretations, and that means three more years of drought. He's predicting a low lake level of 4,197.5 feet by Sept. 15 — the end of the water season — this year.
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Deseret News graphic
Elevation of the Great Salt Lake
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Jeremy Harmon, Deseret News
Antelope Island appears to rise out of a desert as the water level in the Great Salt Lake shrinks to 4,198 feet above sea level, its lowest mark since 1980.
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