The Great Salt Lake is drying up.
Preserving its waters protects our health, its unique ecosystems, and ensures the future habitability of Utah.
Save the Date!
Save the Date! We're back at the Utah State Capitol for our 5th annual Rally to Save Our Great Salt Lake on Saturday, January 31, 2026 at 12pm.
​
It's hard to believe this is our 5th Rally! This movement had come such a long way AND - we're just getting started. This is long work. There's so much power in the community that's building around Great Salt Lake and the momentum is on our side. Our state leaders have called for the lake's restoration by 2034 and we're here to hold them accountable.
​
Join us on January 31st as we celebrate, reflect on where we've been, and set our sights on the road ahead.
​​
We need water to the lake. We need deep cultural paradigm shifts and systems change. We need a movement bigger than anything we've seen here in Utah.
​
We can't wait to see you there!
The Dangers of a Drying Lake Bed
The Great Salt Lake is a terminal one, meaning it has no outlets. Absent of any outflow, its lake bed has absorbed decades’ worth of industrial waste, pesticides, and heavy metals that occur naturally in Utah’s soil. As water is diverted from the lake – largely for agricultural use and mineral extraction – dried particles blow across the Wasatch Front, exposing millions to toxic, irritating dust.
​
Without intervention, Great Salt Lake is on track to become one of the largest dust emission sources in North America.
​
Pictured below are dried out microbialites, rare bacterial structures that are considered one of the oldest life forms on earth. These ‘living rocks’ provide food for brine shrimp and flies who in turn feed tens of millions of shore and migratory birds. A drying lake bed not only endangers humans, but entire ecosystems that rely on stability and homeostasis for continued survival. While 1/3 of the lake’s microbialite structures are now dried out and dead, many more still survive underwater and it’s not too late to save them or our Great Salt Lake.
​
“If we can’t get a water right for the Great Salt Lake and we can’t protect a certain level of water in the lake, that ecosystem will collapse, and that will have devastating impacts for the millions of humans that live here.”
​
DR. BONNIE BAXTER, DIRECTOR OF GREAT SALT LAKE INSTITUTE
“Diaphanous clouds sweeping across the sky create a veil of shadows on the pastel landscape of mountain ranges and floating islands and pink water in a bloom of algae. How still this place.”
​
TERRY TEMPEST WILLIAMS, UTAH AUTHOR & CONSERVATIONIST
