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The January 2024 Report

Members of the Great Salt Lake Strike Team recently released a “Great Salt Lake Data and Insights Summary” to help decision-makers during the 2024 General Legislative Session. ⁠
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The report provides a summary of the 2023 water year and shares data and insights about reservoir storage, salinity, temperature, precipitation, streamflow and natural flow, runoff efficiency, human water use, mineral extraction, future water availability, and conservation planning. ⁠

About The Strike Team

The Great Salt Lake Strike Team includes researchers from the University of Utah and Utah State University working together with state leads from the Utah Department of Natural Resources and Utah Department of Agriculture and Food and additional experts from other entities. Together, these entities join in a model partnership to provide timely, relevant, and high-quality data and research that help decision-makers make informed decisions about Great Salt Lake.

The 2023 Policy Assessment Report

In fall of 2022, Utah’s public research universities – The University of Utah and Utah State University – formed the Great Salt Lake Strike Team to provide a primary point of contact for policymakers as they address the economic, health, and ecological challenges created by the record-low elevation of Great Salt Lake. Together with state agency professionals, the Strike Team brings together experts in public policy, hydrology, water management, climatology, and dust to provide impartial, data-informed, and solution-oriented support for Utah decision-makers. The Strike Team does not advocate but rather functions in a technical, policy-advisory role as a service to the state.

The Great Salt Lake Strike Team developed an evaluation scorecard to create apples-to-apples comparisons of the most often proposed options. By briefly outlining these policies and providing necessary context, options, and tradeoffs, we give an overview of expected water gains, monetary costs, environmental impacts, and feasibility. Many options work in conjunction with others, particularly “Commit Conserved Water to Great Salt Lake” which is foundational to shepherding water conserved through other policy options to the lake. The Great Salt Lake Strike Team released its first policy assessment report on February 8, 2023.

Recommendations

The Great Salt Lake Strike Team supports the data and research needs of state decision-makers. The Strike Team does not advocate for specific policy positions but does respond to requests to share technical expertise and evidence-based assessment.

The governor and Legislature have requested recommendations from the Strike Team to inform state actions in the near term. Consistent with this approach, the Strike Team offers six specific recommendations for gubernatorial and legislative support in the coming year.

Leverage Wet Years
Leverage Wet Years
The current wet year offers a significant opportunity to make progress on the lake elevation. Do not miss this opportunity.
Set a lake elevation range goal
Set a lake elevation range goal
Adopt a lake elevation target level range based on analysis prepared by the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands. Preliminary analysis suggests a range in the 4,198-4,205-feet elevation level will maximize benefits across many factors. Meeting this goal requires policymakers to focus on inflows that both fill and maintain targeted elevation ranges.
Invest in conservation
Invest in conservation
Conservation to increase the inflows to, or decrease withdrawals from, Great Salt Lake should be implemented to stop the decline in lake levels and initiate restoration.
Invest in water monitoring and modeling
Invest in water monitoring and modeling
Additional investment in water intelligence will allow the state to be more responsive and effective to challenges. The Strike Team suggests a more than doubling of current state investments in accurate and timely measurements and forecasts that will help inform and guide state decisions.
Develop a holistic long-term water resource plan for the watershed
Develop a holistic long-term water resource plan for the watershed
The Utah Department of Natural Resources is currently developing the Great Salt Lake Basin Integrated Plan in partnership with water users, universities, environmental groups and government agencies. When finished, it will provide actions to ensure a resilient water supply for all water users in the basin, including Great Salt Lake. Resources should be allocated to the effort and all should be encouraged to participate.
Request in-depth analyses on policy options
Request in-depth analyses on policy options
The governor and Legislature can direct the Great Salt Lake Strike Team to further model specific policy options and parameters to identify the most water-efficient, cost-effective, and high-return options.