On Monday, the federal government announced its greatest investment to date in the Great Salt Lake, giving Utah $50 million to improve the ecosystem and increase water flow to the lake.
Tens of millions of dollars have been spent by the state in an attempt to restore the Great Salt Lake, which fell to a record low in November 2022 and remains below the threshold for health. However, the federal government has never before invested this amount of money in the lake until Monday’s pledge.
“We really needed this kind of investment,” said Brian Steed, a commissioner for Great Salt Lake.
The federal funds come from the Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed in 2022 along party lines and contained hundreds of billions of dollars for a variety of reforms, program expansions, subsidies, and more. The bill’s 1,800+ pages included provisions for the Internal Revenue Service expansion, investments in green energy, and drought infrastructure.
The measure allocated several billion dollars for water projects to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which oversees water infrastructure in the West. Utah requested $10 million of those monies for the Great Salt Lake water rights lease, but the Bureau said on Monday that the state would receive $50 million, far more than the state had requested.
“We have a partnership with Utah here, and projects move at the speed of trust,” Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton stated Monday. As you just heard, they are prepared to begin initiatives, and we are dedicated to that because a healthy environment here helps not only Utah and the Great Salt Lake, but also the Colorado River Basin and the entire West.
Many Republicans opposed the Inflation Reduction Act when it was introduced, including a group of 22 Republican governors who referred to the law as another dangerous tax and spending spree.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox was one of the signatories. Cox, however, described the announcement as a tremendous donation on Monday and expressed excitement about the possibility of some of that money returning to Utah.
According to Cox, it highlights both the state of Utah’s and our federal partner’s dedication to the Great Salt Lake.
How will the Great Salt Lake be enhanced with the funding?
The money will be divided in two ways. The Great Salt Lake Commissioner’s Office will distribute the $40 million to the Utah Division of Water Resources, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, or the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands for use in ecosystem restoration projects along the lake.
The funds will subsequently be used by the agencies to improve the berm that divides the lake’s north and south arms and to keep up the campaign against phragmites, an invasive weed that grows in marshes surrounding the lake. Additionally, the money will support waterfowl management areas and other large tracts of land that have been maintained along the Great Salt Lake, such as Farmington, Ogden, or Willard bays. These places are essential to the health of the lake and the millions of migrating birds who stop there.
Joel Ferry, executive director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources, stated that when those are improved, the lake’s entire body is also improved.
With the help of a measure Ferry himself introduced while serving in the Utah House of Representatives, the remaining $10 million will be used to lease water rights from users in the Great Salt Lake Basin.
House Bill 33, which was passed in 2022, significantly deviates from Utah’s water rights maxim of “use it or lose it” by allowing the state to lease water from water rights holders in the Great Salt Lake basin. Farmers, business owners, and other landowners with a water right were frequently encouraged to use all of the water allotted to them prior to the bill’s passing because failing to do so could result in the loss of their water right.
The state can now lease it so water flows to the lake rather than depleting it for irrigation or other uses in an effort to protect the water right.
Touton stated on Monday that it might be a tried-and-true idea for the whole West. We’re ecstatic about that.
The state will now try to negotiate more seasonal leases with farmers and other business owners in the Great Salt Lake region, with an additional $10 million burning a hole in its wallet.
Steed said the state has already leased roughly 130,000 acre-feet and estimates from the Utah Division of Water Rights indicate the state may lease another 120,000 acre-feet. For comparison, one foot of water is sufficient to immerse one acre of land in an acre-foot of water.
The Great Salt Lake Strategic Plan, which was published earlier this year, states that in order for the lake to reach 4,198 feet in elevation—the lower end of the healthy range—between 471,000 and 1,055,000 acre-feet of additional water must be delivered annually.
The lake’s north and south arms hovered at about 4,192 feet on Monday. According to the state, a healthy range is 4,198–4,205 feet.
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