For decades, Utah's Great Salt Lake has been receding, drying up as the historically arid region feels the effects of the overheating planet. While concerned parties from across the political spectrum have been trying for years to reverse that trend and refill the lake, NBC News reported that Gov. Spencer Cox has sped up the timeline with an ambitious goal: Replenish the lake before the city hosts the 2034 Olympic Games.
It isn't just Cox who has boarded the Salt Lake restoration train. According to NBC News, in March, President Donald Trump said, "MAKE 'THE LAKE' GREAT AGAIN!" on social media.
"Everybody's on board," former state Rep. Tim Hawkes said. "You've got the president of the United States tweeting about it. So that's a lot of momentum."
There's a good reason for the urgency. As experts and officials have pointed out, the shrinking lake isn't just an aesthetic problem. It's a health issue.
The part of the lake bed exposed by the receding waterline is toxic, producing dust plumes full of arsenic and other dangerous metals that can impact human health in nearby communities.
According to NBC News, Joel Ferry, who leads the state Department of Natural Resources, called the situation an "environmental nuclear bomb."
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The problems also extend beyond the lake itself. The Great Salt Lake is only shrinking because the region is using more water than it receives and has been for decades. It represents finite reserves drying up in general. A water shortage in the Beehive State is a problem that could affect millions.
To refill the lake, individuals and businesses throughout the region would need to work together to use less water than they have historically — 400,000 Olympic swimming pools' worth less per year for eight years — just to have a 50% chance of reaching the goal. That amount is 10 times the yearly average for the last five years, according to a task force report from January.
"It's Herculean," said Lynn de Freitas, executive director of Friends of Great Salt Lake.
Josh Romney, son of former U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney, has set out to raise $100 million for the effort, which could cost $500 million or more. As of early March, he had raised $30 million, per NBC News.
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