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Weber professor says the Great Salt Lake could be dying

Duhh! Remember hearing about Lake Bonneville which was once hundreds of feet deep covering much of the Wasatch front?

In the natural cycle of things Lake Bonneville has dwindled to become the relatively insignificant Great Salt Lake. And, the Lake level has dropped many times, and even risen many times (West Desert pumps anyone?).

FOrget any man made global warming hysteria, this has been going on for thousands of years.

Yes, if the lake dries up, it will cause problems. However. let's not let a bunch of "experts" meddle too much with nature.

We do live in a dessert. By choice.

It probably won't be long and we'll be pumping water out onto the salt flats again...in 83 we had more water than we knew what to do with, and by 86 this lake was overflowing into places we didn't want it.

We're just in a cycle.

Darwin,
You are missing the point. We are messing with the lake by using the water that would be flowing into the lake. It is not simply a matter of natural patterns. I am tired of people not accepting that humans can indeed have an impact on the eco system.. Rain forests in South America Anyone!! Sometimes the hysteria is well founded

I can't wait for the GSL rise another 17 feet again,
and listen to the whinning when all those big beautiful houses go underwater.

My family's property was greatly affected in 83'! The land has changed drasticly since! If we were to get that much water again we would all be in trouble! Bye...Bye..Legacy Highway! There's too much sediment deposits in places that most people don't see, or realize is happening...but...if there were to be the big overdue earthquake that's supposed to happen along the Wasatch..............Who knows?

This article isn't about global warming or Obama. Sorry guys. It's about water management. No global warming propaganda or Obama-hate opportunities here. This article requires reading and thought. I am sure there will be new articles about the horrors of global warming and Obamaman soon enough.

People are impacting the lake, more and more of us around, and that is good too if they are good people. Good people give nature a chance and manage it correctly. Lets not lose this great heritage by acting stupid and saying stupid things. Abuse is abuse. No I am not an eastern enviornmentalist, I am a Utahn who hunts, fishes, and hoepfully respects nature too. We are also in a drought situation at least in part of the state.

We need to take longer showers and get rid of low flow toilets. That would cause more water to flow into the lake.

What an absolutely clueless response. What makes you think he waste water from our showers and toilets flow to the Great Salt Lake. As a kid I used to swim in the Lake all the time. This is a cause for concern.

Darwin your argument shows me that you truly don't understand the problem. Not one single word in this article mentioned global warming or anything like that. It simply said we need to better manage the water. Get a grip on reality Darwin, because you certainly are not dealing with reality.

There is a point where the Wasatch front will no longer be able to expand. Case in point is Las Vegas trying to steal Utah's water.

We have to decide whether we want to draw the great Salt Lake down to the point where the dust storms, like in the Aral sea area, destroy the land east of it.

I was saddened when it was chosen by the voters (by a small margin) to add flouride to our water, which was then used for watering our gardens and lawns. I wonder what the effect of all this flouride is going to have as it collects in the Great Salt Lake.

I would like to ask in all seriousness if it would matter (other than looking ugly) if the lake were to dry up/or greatly shrink in size?

Since the salt level in the water makes it unfit to drink or to use for irrigation, what real harm would it cause?

Seems like the fresh water that now ends up in there to instead go for humans, animals or crops is a good thing.

As it shrinks a little at a time, the natural consequence seems to be that slowly birds who may use it for refugee will learn to go elsewhere (northern Utah ) and gradually, development and building on the land would take place--and that doesn't seem to be such a horror.

I will have to read the article. Seems to be logical. I hope he quoted Dr. Deon Greer who mapped the GSL a long time ago, as a project when Deon was a prof. of geography at WSU. Deon used that knowledge to get another trip to the then-Soviet Union to talk about environmental matters, etc.

I will have to read the article.

If there's a way to ruin the planet, humans will think of it.

In the end things will only change when their is an impact directly to people living here. Until that happens, nothing will change. Indeed, it will probably get worse as the population here continues to grow. Yet that could also be helpful as the dominated faith decreases in size and control and other groups move in and eventually take control of the legislature. Then things may change but probably not.

I bought an energy star washer and am not happy. On the last rince cycle the water is still soapy. If I want to get clothes properly rinsed, after every wash I need to put it on another rinse cycle.

Water savings has come at the cost of rinsing.

The GSL is getting the same amount of water if not more now, than it ever has. If you will ALL remember, before this past century, water was not held anywhere. When the Lake went down because of climatic reasons, it went up for the same reason.
Silly humans think they control everything.
How does Mr. Weber professor explain off Bangeters sensation "pumping" of the lake just a few years ago?
Some people will write anything to get their name in print.

Needs to to come to the rescue!!!

Maybe if every new person moving into Utah didn't think they needed a 0.5 acre plot for their home so they could have half of a football field for a yard we wouldn't be wasting so much water making green grass grow in a desert. Build more high rise apartment buildings where people don't need a lawn. Stop spreading out across the desert and build up, not out.

Look, I'm a Republican. I listen to Rush Limbaugh. But use some common sense. Man has an impact on the GSL. Is man completely to blame for lake level changes? Of course not. But let's at least study and understand what our footprint is before we go trodding our great resources underfoot.

I am originally from the Great Lakes region. Anyone of any political stripe can tell you how man has at times threatened those great resources. Invasive species like lamprey and asian carp are not the work of mother nature (how they arrived in the lakes anyway). Neither is pollution. But learn from those lakes and from the Aral Sea. The Aral Sea is the extreme example but one no one wants to see repeated.

Obviously diverting water has an impact. How much impact is what needs to be looked at.