Farmers around Utah’s Great Salt Lake might need to be paid as much as $421 million a year to greatly reduce water consumption that’s shrinking the lake, according to a new study.
Researchers at Oregon State University said reducing irrigation from the lake’s tributaries is critical to reversing the declining water levels and will inevitably hurt farmers’ bottom line. Massive taxpayer-funded compensation could be part of the solution, they said.
The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and sustains more than 10 million migratory birds, researchers said in the paper published in the journal Environmental Challenges. It also supports a brine shrimp industry that’s imperiled as falling water levels make the lake saltier.
The lake is shrinking by about 4 inches per year and has lost around 15 billion cubic yards of water in the last 30 years, researchers said. Melting snow from the Wasatch Mountains feeds the Great Salt Lake, which has no outlet.
