WEBVTT

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AMNA NAWAZ: The Great Salt Lake
in Utah is the largest body
of saltwater in the Western

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Hemisphere without
an outlet to the sea.

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An ongoing megadrought
made worse by climate
change means less
precipitation, and a growing

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population is taking more water
before the lake can refill.

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Scientists say the resulting
record low water levels in
recent years are worrying.

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Stephanie Sy explored
the lake both on and off
the water to learn more.

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STEPHANIE SY: Reaching the
waters of the Great Salt Lake
from almost any direction these

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days is a hike.

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And Brian Footen is
carrying a heavy load.

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Founder of the EarthViews
Conservation Society,
he's equipped a kayak
with cameras and sensors,

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mobile tools to map
the receding shoreline.

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BRIAN FOOTEN, Co-Founder,
EarthViews Conservation
Society: This is going
to log water quality

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data every 10 seconds,
things like temperature,
dissolved oxygen.

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STEPHANIE SY: Satellite images
capture the extent of the
lake's shrinkage since 1985,

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but Footen says there is
nothing like bringing the public
right to its dwindling surface

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through his
interactive Web site.

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BRIAN FOOTEN: It doesn't
take charts and graphs
and big scientific
reports to tell the story,

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right?

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All you have to do is
go out there and look.

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STEPHANIE SY: And so we did,
paddling through shallow waters
with an astonishing vacancy

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of life.

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This northern arm of the
lake is already forever
changed by human decisions.

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The red tint is a result
of extremely high salinity.

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It was choked off from the
rest of the lake years ago
to build a railroad causeway.

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BRIAN FOOTEN: The Great
Salt Lake is drying up.

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Climate change is responsible.

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You know, developers
are responsible.

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And it just goes -- it goes over
top of people's heads, right?

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STEPHANIE SY: Yes.

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BRIAN FOOTEN: So, what were
doing is using this imagery
as a way to kind of go, wow,

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look at this.

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This is really happening.

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STEPHANIE SY: Footen also
sends the data he collects
to biologist Bonnie Baxter.

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BONNIE BAXTER, Westminster
College: The water
is way out there now.

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STEPHANIE SY: We meet
her on the southern end
of the Great Salt Lake.

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It is eerily quiet
and smells of brine.

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I feel like were in the middle
of just a dead zone here.

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BONNIE BAXTER: Yes.

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STEPHANIE SY: It feels
like another planet.

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BONNIE BAXTER: So, it's
like a dead coral reef.

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It's like a cemetery.

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And these are the tombstones.

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STEPHANIE SY: Yes.

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It feels like that.

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BONNIE BAXTER: Yes.

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If we see larvae in the
water, or pupal casings, there
are sharpies to write on.

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STEPHANIE SY: Baxter
brings researchers from
Westminster College to
gather specimens weekly.

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BONNIE BAXTER: These mounds
should be covered with
maps of microorganisms
that do photosynthesis

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and bring the suns energy
into the lake system.

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But you can see that they're
dry and they're not green
and they're out of the water.

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Even the ones in the
water are not healthy,
because they're too salty.

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The ones out of the
water are too dry.

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STEPHANIE SY: The mounds
are called microbialites.

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BONNIE BAXTER: This is
the foundation of the
Great Salt Lake ecosystem.

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And we're seeing it crash and
die right before our eyes.

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STEPHANIE SY: The lake is at
its lowest level in history.

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As a result, it's becoming
too salty even for species
adapted to high salinity.

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BONNIE BAXTER: We're not
seeing any fly pupae today.

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That's terrifying.

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STEPHANIE SY: Brine flies feed
the millions of birds that
flock here, as do brine shrimp,

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which are also harvested.

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It is just one part of the
$1.3 billion economic output
of the Great Salt Lake.

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To understand why the lake is
drying up, you have to zoom
out to the surrounding areas

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of the lake's namesake,
Salt Lake City.

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ERIN MENDENHALL (D), Mayor
of Salt Lake City, Utah: The
state of Utah as a whole is the

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fastest growing
state in the nation.

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Yellow is the new green.

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STEPHANIE SY: Erin Mendenhall
is the mayor, a Democrat.

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ERIN MENDENHALL: Salt Lake City,
as the capital, is seeing more
growth in terms of units each

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year than almost anywhere
else in the state.

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STEPHANIE SY: There are more
city residents than ever, but
they're actually using less

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water.

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ERIN MENDENHALL: We are
absolutely committed to saving
this lake with whatever we can.

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Last year, that was 2.6
billion gallons of water
Salt Lakers conserved.

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This year, it's already
up to 2.9 billion gallons.

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STEPHANIE SY: The
city's achieved that
not by mandating water
restrictions, but by raising

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water rates about 15 percent
a year, and implementing
a tiered rate structure.

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ERIN MENDENHALL: So, the
more you consume, those water
rates go up even faster.

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And these water rates
reflect the urgency that
we feel as Salt Lakers.

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STEPHANIE SY: But beyond
the capital, developments
are spring up along the
Wasatch Front, single-family

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homes with lawns full of
Kentucky bluegrass that
demands daily watering.

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JENNIFER LAIR, Salt
Lake City Resident: It's
ephedra, so something
that is a native species.

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STEPHANIE SY: In Salt Lake
City, Jennifer and John Lair are
part of a grassroots movement

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to swap bluegrass
lawns for native plants
that need less water.

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JENNIFER LAIR: Especially
with the kind of exponential
growth that the Wasatch Front

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has seen and expects to see for
the next 25, 30 years, there
just isn't going to be enough

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water.

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JOHN LAIR, Salt Lake City
Resident: It makes us wonder
if we need to be thinking about

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living somewhere else.

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I mean, it's an
idea we toss around.

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How seriously?

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It kind of depends on the day.

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Of course, the question
then becomes, where
do you go from there?

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Where is not going to be
impacted by climate change?

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STEPHANIE SY: While conservation
efforts by residents of Salt
Lake City will definitely

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help, it may not be enough.

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Two-thirds of the water in
the Great Salt Lake watershed
goes to agriculture, including

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the water from the Bear River.

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It irrigates the farms
and ranches whose yields
Utah families have
relied on since Mormon

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pioneers settled the region
in the 1800s, fulfilling, they
believed, a biblical prophecy

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to make the desert blossom.

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JOEL FERRY, Director, Utah
Department of Natural Resources:
I don't know what normal looks

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like anymore.

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It's been a long time
since we have had good
winters and good moisture.

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STEPHANIE SY: Joel Ferry
has a unique perspective.

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A fifth-generation Utah cattle
rancher, he's also a former
Republican state representative

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and now the director of
the state's Department
of Natural Resources.

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JOEL FERRY: Water in
the state of Utah is
a prior appropriation.

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So whoever used it first has
the first right to use it today.

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And a lot of those
rights belong to farmers.

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STEPHANIE SY: Is it
time for that to change?

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JOEL FERRY: Well, no, I
mean, we have -- we have
laws and we have structure.

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So what is time for us to
do is to implement more
conservation measures.

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STEPHANIE SY: Bipartisan support
for conserving water for the
Great Salt Lake led to a dozen

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laws enacted this year by
the Republican-dominated
state government.

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The reforms, among many
provisions, do away with
use-or-lose water policies.

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JOEL FERRY: We passed
legislation that me,
as a farmer, I can
say, you know what, I'm

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going to take my water, I'm
going to put it in the river,
and I will receive a beneficial

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use, which totally
changes the mind-set of
that use it or lose it.

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I might say, wheat is
not worth very much.

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I don't want it.

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I'm going to get some
compensation if I
leave it in the river.

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STEPHANIE SY: One of the biggest
worries is that the Great Salt
Lake will go the way others

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have gone before it, not just
drying up and ceasing to be a
source of water, but becoming

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a source of poison.

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Biologist Bonnie Baxter says
more than 40 percent of the
lake bed is no longer covered

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by water and could turn to dust.

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BONNIE BAXTER: We are likely to
see an increase in dust storms
as we expose more shorelines.

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We're likely to see more dust.

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STEPHANIE SY: And
that is toxic dust...

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BONNIE BAXTER: Yes.

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STEPHANIE SY: ... because
there is arsenic and heavy
metal in this lake bed.

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BONNIE BAXTER: Exactly.

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Right.

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So, the -- breathing these
small particles has a huge
impact on human health, but then

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you talk about the heavy metals
and what that does to a system
over time, and that's a little

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scary.

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STEPHANIE SY: Other
dried-out Salt Lakes
provide a cautionary tale.

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In the early 20th century,
water from the Sierra Nevada
Mountains was diverted from

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Owens Lake to
growing Los Angeles.

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By the 1920s, the lake was dry.

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And, for decades after,
toxic dust plumes
sickened area residents.

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It is only one reason
why, for hours a day,
Brian Footen paddles along
the lake's shoreline,

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documenting its disappearance.

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BRIAN FOOTEN: I think one of
the big stories that's being
missed in the talk about the

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climate and the drought and the
agriculture and the development
in Salt Lake is that this

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is a unique ecosystem
on the planet.

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There's nothing else like it.

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STEPHANIE SY: And that,
in itself, he says, is
a reason for saving it.

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For the "PBS NewsHour,"
I am Stephanie Sy at the
Great Salt Lake in Utah.