Opinion: Saving the Great Salt Lake means saving ourselves

A physician’s first obligation is to “do no harm” to their patients. Public officials should feel the same: First, do no harm to your constituents. If that obligation were being met, we would not be having a conversation about saving the Great Salt Lake. But we are, and we must.

Tens of thousands of Utahns became “downwinder” victims of America’s nuclear weapons program, and more join the ranks every day, because federal officials of several administrations discounted their obligation to do no harm. But a second round of downwinder victims is looming. As one conservative Utah lawmaker said to The New York Times , if we allow the lake to shrivel up and disappear, Utahns face a new “environmental nuclear bomb , ” only this one largely of our own making, because state officials are trivializing their obligation.

Gov. Spencer Cox said last year , “The future of the lake has never been more secure.” That is a statement of hope, not reality. Some birds have returned to the lake , but the downward trend continues, and lake levels are still well below the 30-year average and the level generally accepted as healthy. Despite two good years of winter precipitation and recent water donated by the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Compass Minerals and others, if the lake were a patient, it would still be in the intensive care unit, primarily because its main inlet is being diverted to satisfy unsustainable agricultural demand. Experts at Utah Rivers Council say that recent legislation doesn’t address the heart of the problem and may even make the situation worse.

Furthermore, what is commonly disseminated as the current lake elevation is an artificially enhanced number because planned manipulation of the causeway will raise the southern half at the expense of the northern half.

As more of the lake bed is exposed, minimal winds launch that dust over the Wasatch Front. Inhaling any dust is hazardous in and of itself, but this lake bed dust also contains heavy metals like arsenic, mercury and lead; pesticides and industrial chemicals from nearby mining and agricultural run-off; forever chemicals from the discharge of over 28 sewage treatment plants into the lake ecosystem; bacterial toxins ; and even radioactive metals like uranium, strontium and cesium from the four decades of detonating nuclear bombs at the Nevada nuclear testing range.

When inhaled, the smallest dust particles are picked up by the blood and delivered throughout the body, which triggers an inflammatory chemical cascade . They can penetrate and attack any of the body’s 30 trillion cells and can cause harm to all major organs. The clinical consequences include virtually the entire list of diseases known to be caused by smoking cigarettes: heart and lung disease; multiple pregnancy and fetal development complications, from premature birth to cerebral palsy, birth defects and stillbirths; all types of cancer; impaired brain development and function; neurodegenerative diseases; and even arthritis, diabetes and intestinal diseases. Pollution nanoparticles of any type can even disrupt genetic function and harm the health of future generations.

Meanwhile, dust storms from Great Salt Lake have increased to about 15 per year from essentially none 15 years ago. Patients have told us that when near the lake during stronger winds, they have been forced onto the ground covering their faces to protect themselves.

What is happening to the populations surrounding other disappearing terminal lakes, such as the Aral Sea in the Middle East, Lake Urmia in Iran and the Salton Sea and Owens Lake in California gives us a preview of what to expect in Utah. Life expectancy among the population surrounding the Aral Sea has plummeted 13 years , no doubt due to the many health consequences from what is now a toxic dust bowl. Yet, so far, Utah is not learning any lesson. Our Legislature remains determined that private interests have an absolute right to divert flows from the lake, regardless of the consequences to the public at large.

A shriveled-up Great Salt Lake may be the biggest threat to the future of this state.

As we have seen with other dying lakes, the health of the Great Salt Lake is directly tied to the health and well-being of millions of people who live near it. But our leaders are refusing to meet their legal obligation to protect the lake and their moral obligation to protect their own citizens. They should feel, as we do, the imperative to “do no harm.”

Dr. Brian Moench is the president of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment. He is a former adjunct faculty member of the University of Utah Honors College, where he taught the public health consequences of environmental degradation. He is the author of two books on environmental contaminants and public health, “Death by Corporation” and “The Great Brain Robbery.”