Perspective: How Utah’s federal delegation can help save the Great Salt Lake

When Rep. Celeste Maloy, R-Utah, entered Congress, Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, sent a small shipment of salmon from Bristol Bay to Maloy’s office. In return, Maloy’s team sent saltwater taffy from the Great Salt Lake. Not a bad bargain for Maloy’s staff.

Maloy’s salty bargaining goods are a clever nod to the Great Salt Lake, one of Utah’s most important natural landmarks. But Utah’s federal delegation can do more than just celebrate the lake — they can help save it. Utah’s federal representatives should secure federal funds to bolster Utah’s efforts to lease water rights from farmers and other users, ensuring steadier inflows to the imperiled lake.

So far, federal funding for the lake has been limited, thus rendering limited results. In 2021, Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, sponsored a bill allocating $25 million for the United States Geological Survey to study saline lakes in the Great Basin. Studies are important, but we need more direct action in the short term if we want to stave off the worst consequences of a shrinking lake.

Failing to act swiftly will threaten Utah’s economy and ecology. Even worse, the alarming prospect of toxic dust storms from a dry lakebed spells trouble for residents all along Utah’s Wasatch Front.

Federal funding is needed to augment the state’s efforts. Members of Utah’s federal delegation agree that lake-saving legislation should primarily be carried out at the state level. To that end, the state has taken positive steps toward rescuing the lake. In the last two years alone, the state has established the Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Trust , reversed the “ use it or lose it ” provision of Utah water rights that formerly discouraged conservation and, most recently, passed legislation to regulate the water consumption of mining companies that extract resources from the lake.

Each of these actions make for a good start, but there is still much to be done if we want to curb water consumption and sustain Utah’s growing population. Great Salt Lake Commissioner Brian Steed published a strategic plan earlier this year outlining a series of steps the state can take to save and sustain the lake. If implemented, the plan will lead us to a more hopeful future as we reduce water consumption across all sectors. But conservation efforts will require funding.

When asked whether he is optimistic about saving the lake, Romney said , “I’m confident it can be done. I’m not confident it can be done cheaply.” He cited the need for federal funds to propel the state’s water conservation efforts.

Rep. John Curtis, R-Utah, will likely replace Romney in the Senate in January. Like Romney, Curtis seems sincere in his desire to save the lake. “The Great Salt Lake is an iconic part of Utah’s natural heritage, and it will continue to be a high priority for me,” Curtis wrote to me in an email. He is particularly concerned about “communities near the Great Salt Lake, especially those affected by toxic dust from the drying lakebed.” To remedy the problem, Curtis wants “to enhance voluntary water conservation programs.”

That is an important goal. But federal delegates sometimes speak of solutions and funding in abstract terms. They want to secure funding to help the state rescue the lake, but those desires are often thwarted by the lack of concrete plans for how those funds should be used. For example, Romney’s sincere efforts to secure funding failed to produce tangible results because he never threw his weight behind specific initiatives that will conserve water today.

Utah’s federal representatives should focus on directing funds toward the Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Trust so that the state can offer more competitive prices to farmers wishing to sell or lease their water rights. Some lawmakers view the trust as an attack on farmers — an effort to rid Utah of agriculture. But it’s actually the opposite. It’s a down payment on the future of Utah farming. Water rights are currently over-allocated in Utah. If a percentage of farmers are incentivized to sell or lease their water, the resulting reduction in irrigation will stabilize the future of farmers who opt to continue the important work of feeding people in Utah and beyond.

Paired with important investment in water-optimization infrastructure, the Enhancement Trust is vital to saving the lake. But we need increased investment, and we need it faster. Moreover, we need Utah’s federal representatives to use their political capital to support a system of voluntary water leasing so that we can begin to accept the practice culturally. After all, the cultural hurdles are greater than the financial hurdles in this case.

Two consecutive wet winters have saved us from ecosystem collapse. But we cannot refuse to live within our means while expecting Mother Nature to bail us out. As Romney told me last summer, we need to move forward as if “this kind of winter won’t happen again.”

Brigham Daniels, a law professor at the University of Utah and director of the Great Salt Lake Project, says he worries that Utahns are celebrating the wet winters and rising lake levels without acknowledging that the north arm of the lake is still shockingly low.

If we continue on this trajectory, legal challenges will mount against the state. Daniels published a paper earlier this year explaining in detail how the Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act and Public Trust Doctrine provide legal grounds for the federal government to assume the state’s authority over water and other resources if lake levels remain too low.

We need federal funding to support efficient, impactful action today so that we can avoid federal intervention tomorrow. The race to save the lake is a marathon — one that requires a sprinting start. Utah’s federal delegation can bring a market-based resolution to this social and environmental crisis by securing the funds for the state to lease the water rights necessary to save the lake.

If we succeed in saving the lake, Maloy, Curtis and the rest of Utah’s federal representatives will be handing out saltwater taffy for years to come. More importantly, we will have clean air and a healthy ecosystem for life to flourish in northern Utah.

Addison Graham is the Public Affairs Director at Grow the Flow and is pursuing a masters of public policy at the University of Utah.